


The Second Game

by orphan_account



Series: Twisted Games [2]
Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Warlock!Alec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 02:59:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 27,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/908101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They've spent two years apart, two years not knowing if the other still cared, still lived. They nearly died to be back in each others arms. Finally home, finally safe, but things still aren't finished. Artemis has escaped, the clave is asking questions, and Alec's hiding a big secret from everyone but Magnus. Can they figure everything out in time to make sure no one else falls victim to another of Artemis's sick games? Or will one of them die trying?<br/>SEQUEL TO TERRITORY</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Reasons

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is a super old story and while I love the concept I acknowledge that this has a crap ton of flaws in both grammar, spelling, plot, and overall writing. I still love it though, and I hope to re-write it some day. But for now I'm uploading it as is since I'm transfering all my fanfiction over here from FF.net  
> SEQUEL TO TERRITORY

.-.-.-.-.-. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. ~M. Kathleen Casey .-.-.-.-.-.

"Alec, are you okay?" Magnus asked softly as he stepped out onto the porch outside our room at Ben's mansion. A light snow was falling and it was close to midnight. Two days had passed since everyone had been reunited with their families, and most had gone home. Ian, Marty, Kim and Taylor had elected to stay for awhile though.

"I'm fine." I was looking off into the distance, my arms crossed and my back to Magnus.

"I don't think you are." He whispered as he gently stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close. I sighed softly and leaned back into the welcome warmth.

"I'm just…worried about what's going to happen now." I said after a bit.

"How so?" Magnus's fingers were lightly tracing patterns on my skin through my shirt.

"We need to go to the Clave, that's obvious. But I don't know if I _can_ go to the Clave, not without both of us being arrested on the spot."

"What are you talking about, Alec? Why would going to the Clave get both of us arrested?" The confusion in his tone was almost tangible.

"Magnus, you know what I'm talking about." I pulled away from his arms, running both my hand up my face and back through my hair. "I can do magic, and for some reason it's _your_ magic. In the Clave's eyes we've broken an uncountable amount of laws and I doubt they'll take the time to listen to our explanation. And even if they did, we don't _have_ an explanation."

"Alec, we'll figure it out, okay." He came over to stand in front of me, tilting my face up so I was looking into his eyes. "Look, the only way the Clave would know about you being able to do magic is if you were to actually walk through the wards. So maybe, instead of going to them, we can get them to come to us. There's no way they don't have an interest in this, hopefully they'll be willing to work with us. We'll just tell them you and the others don't feel safe leaving the house or something." I nodded a bit, taking a deep breath.

"Okay, Magnus." He smiled and pulled me back into his arms. I nuzzled into the crook of his neck as he gently ran his fingers up and down my spine.

"Come on, you need to rest, we both do." Magnus said after awhile. I nodded and carefully maneuvered both of us back inside and onto the huge bed. We both curled up happily under the warm comforter, Magnus lazily waving his hand to shut the thick curtains hanging in front of the glass walls. It didn't take long for us to fall asleep tangled in each other's arms.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"You're up early, Allie." Ben said as he stumbled into the kitchen and collapsed into a chair at the table, letting out a huge yawn. Ben was not a morning person, at all.

"It's ten o'clock, Ben." I glared playfully as I flipped a few more pancakes.

"Oh…really?"

"Yes, really. How hungry are you?"

"Very. Where's everyone else?"

"Eric and J.C. went to work, Andy went for a jog with Ian, Marty and Johny, Magnus is putting his make-up on and Kim and Taylor are running on the treadmills in your little exercise room." I told him as I poured out three more pancakes to cook. I took four of the finished ones and stacked them on a plate along with some sausages and scrambled eggs before I handed the plate to Ben.

"Yum!" He dug in happily after drenching the entire plate in syrup. "You know, you didn't have to make breakfast…" He said after a bit.

I just shrugged as I loaded up a plate for myself. "I don't mind, and I'm kind of enjoying the fact we have fresh food again."

"Well, at least you can cook better then your sister." Ben grinned. Sometimes, I forgot that he barely knew my family. He'd only talked to them the one time, two days ago, after all. They'd been called back to New York after the little party we had. As for my parents, they hadn't come to visit only because they were under the belief that all of us would be coming to Idris soon to visit the Clave.

"Mmm, breakfast smells delicious, darling." Magnus beamed happily as he strode into the kitchen and fixed himself a plate. He was wearing purple jeans, a pink belt (with the rainbow target buckle…) and a blue, long-sleeved shirt. As soon as he had fixed his plate he sat down next to me, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before digging in. We were soon joined by Kim and Taylor, and then everyone who had been jogging came in and started to scarf down food.

It was a happy scene, a big (and extremely strange) family breakfast…well, brunch. But I still couldn't manage a real smile. I was too worried about what could happen now. I didn't want Magnus to get arrested because I could somehow do magic, and my magic was the same as his. If the Clave found out, there was no way Magnus wouldn't be blamed.

"Allie! Allie! Hey zoned out person, pay attentioooonn." Ben was playfully waving his hand in front of my face.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something, what did you say?" I tried to smile slightly.

"We were all talking about going to the Clave." Ian supplied. Magnus gave me a quick glance out of the corner of his eye, taking one of my hands in his.

"Honestly, I think it may be better for us to request a representative of the Clave to come here." Magnus said.

"But, why?" Marty's face was scrunched up slightly, trying to figure out why Magnus's idea would work better.

"I just think it would be safer, knowing Artemis he's expecting us to go to the Clave, we don't want to do something he's already expecting us to. It would make it too easy for him to capture any of you again." Magnus reasoned. I relaxed slightly at his explanation, it left out the real reason we couldn't go to the Clave, but still gave a plausible reason not to.

"Magnus is right; we can't risk Artemis getting a hold of any of you again." Andy agreed, he had pulled Ben onto his lap and hand his arms tightly around him.

"So we send for the Clave then, and hope they actually give a damn and come?" Taylor summed up.

"Pretty much." Magnus replied.

"And what if they don't give a damn?" Taylor quirked an eyebrow.

"Then we'll come up with a new plan, but for now we have to hope they do care enough to come." Magnus told her. It was obvious that everyone in the room was skeptical of the idea, but they didn't say so.

"Come on, Allie, I want to show you something." Ben said after a bit of awkward silence. He had wiggled off of Andy's lap and was attempting to drag me out the door and onto the porch.

"I'll be back in a bit." I smiled and gave Magnus a quick kiss before letting Ben tug me outside. He was practically bouncing again, and his ever-present grin was probably slightly painful. "So what is it you're showing me?"

"The horses!" He exclaimed happily. After a several minute walk we came up to a rather large barn and several corals. Ben excitedly pushed open the door to the barn, skipping inside. The barn had ten stalls on the left side, each with a horse, and a large tack room as well as several area's with cross ties on the right side. Ben had told me awhile ago that the horse's were all Eric and Andy's. Both of them bread the horses and sometimes did rodeo's, just for fun.

"There's some horse treats over in that bucket." Ben pointed to a blue bucket that was tapped shut to keep mice out. I peeled back the tape and grabbed a handful of the treats, putting them in my jacket pocket.

We walked down the stalls, stopping at each one as Ben told me about each of the horses. Checkers was a young horse with a bit of an attitude, Carol was an old mare that couldn't be ridden any more, Apollo was a huge stallion, Boggy was a good barrel racer, and after that there was Aspen, George, Demi, Toro, Nightmare (who was actually rather sweet) and last was Tommy. After Ben had introduced me to each of the horses he took Aspen and Demi out of their stalls and put both in cross ties.

"What are you doing?" I enquired.

"We're going for a little ride, just down one of the long trails back to the house, then back to the barn." He told me as he struggled with a saddle. I chuckled slightly and relieved him of attempting to get the saddle up onto the horse.

"I'll worry about saddles, you worry about everything else." He grinned sheepishly and nodded before going to retrieve the rest of the tack.

After about ten minutes we had both horses completely tacked up and standing outside the barn.

"You know, I don't even remember the last time I went riding." I laughed as I swung up into the saddle.

"Well, if you fuck up enough that the horse bucks you; at least you'll be landing in the snow, rather then on hard ground." Ben chuckled.

"Oh yes, that's comforting." I rolled my eyes a little as we started off down a different path then the one we'd came on. We rode side by side in silence for several minutes before Ben spoke up.

"Allie…the real reason you don't want to go to the Clave is because of your magic, isn't it?" He was tying very hard to make eye contact with me, and I was trying very hard not to let him. "Allie…I know you heard me."

"Yeah, Ben, that's why I don't want to go." I mumbled.

"But…that's not the real-real reason, is it? I mean, you never put yourself before everyone else, you do it to the point I occasionally question your sanity." Damn, he knew me to well…

"I'm just worried that the Clave with blame Magnus and arrest him for what amounts to turning me into a warlock." I said after a minute.

"But Magnus didn't do this to you." He sighed, "But the Clave wouldn't listen…"

"Exactly, the Clave wouldn't listen. They'd just arrest Magnus and maybe even me…and the punishment for a crime like that would be death, for both of us." The Clave would see it as taking out a dangerous warlock and putting a poor shadowhunter out of his misery at becoming a downworlder. They wouldn't bother to listen to any explanations, not that we had them.

"I don't want anything to happen to you, Allie." Ben said quietly.

"I know, Ben. Magnus and I are trying to figure it out, but right now…right now we honestly have no idea what to do." I told him.

"But, if you're a warlock now, the Clave shouldn't have jurisdiction over you…right?"

"I wish, but with the alliance that was created after the war they have enough jurisdiction to at least arrest us and had us over to the warlock council member."

"Well, who's the warlock council member?" Ben asked.

"Magnus said he's some guy named Adelram. He's an extremely old warlock and he doesn't like Magnus for some reason. So we can't count on him being any help." I explained. Magnus and I had already considered and tossed out the possibility of getting help from Adelram.

"This isn't fair." Ben pouted.

"No, it's not. But there's no point in whining about it, we just have to focus on figuring out how to deal with it." I told him. He nodded reluctantly as we turned the horses around to go back to the barn.

Ben was quite the rest of the ride; the streaks in his hair had faded to a pale pink.

Silently we un-tacked and brushed the horses before putting them back in their stalls.

"Ben, come here." I said quietly when he turned to leave the barn. I could see tears forming in his eyes, and his hair had taken on a slightly bluish tinge now. He didn't come over or turn to face me, but he did stop walking. I walked over to him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I don't want to lose you, you're my best friend." He sniffed as he cuddled into me.

"I know, Ben. We'll figure it out; we just need a little more time." I said softly as I stroked his hair. He sniffed and nodded as he brushed some of the tears from his eyes. I gave him a reassuring smile before we started to walk back to the house; he stayed cuddled into my side.

I somewhat expected Magnus and/or Andy to be a little annoyed that Ben and I were being so close. But when we walked into the house Magnus was so deep in conversation with Johny he didn't notice us come in and Andy was nowhere to be seen.

"Looks like someone made a friend." Ben snickered quietly. I chuckled and nodded. The two were so engrossed in their conversation they still didn't notice us when we opened the fridge, cracked open a couple sodas and sat at the other end of the table.

"Alright, that make's sense, but you still haven't really explained how you made it so your brother can go out in the sun." Magnus was gesturing quite a bit, something he only did when he was very into a conversation.

"Distilled shadowhunter blood." Johny said, he laughed slightly at the confusion on Magnus's face. "I created a spell that distills shadowhunter blood so that the content of angel blood in it is higher. If you do it enough, and have enough blood, you can get it so that it has an extremely high content of angel blood. Give a vamp blood with a lot of angel blood in it, and they can go out in the sunlight." If Magnus hadn't seen the same basic thing occur with Simon, he probably wouldn't have believed Johny.

"Okay, that makes sense but where did you get that much shadowhunter blood in the early 1900's? I can't picture them giving it to you willingly…" Magnus pressed.

"Well…let's just say that the Clave doesn't like me much and I was willing to do some pretty stupid things to help J.C." Johny said cryptically. Magnus looked like he wanted to ask Johny to be more specific, but he didn't.

"Magnus," I interrupted once there was a lull in the conversation. Both Magnus and Johny jumped slightly at the sound of my voice which caused Ben to almost fall over laughing.

"Uh…how long have you two been back?" Magnus asked.

"Almost half an hour." I chuckled as I stood up and walked over to Magnus, sitting on the edge of the table next to him.

"Oh…hu…" Magnus's face was scrunched in concentration, trying to figure out when Ben and I had come back in.

"Come on, let's go take a shower." I leaned down and gave him a quick kiss, winking slightly as I pulled away. Before he could respond I was already walking out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. Magnus was right behind me in less then a second. I laughed as he scooped me up and walked into the elevator.


	2. Impatient

.-.-.-.-.-.-. Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience. .-.-.-.-.-.-.

I had to fight not to laugh at the eager look on Magnus's face when Allie asked him to come take a shower. They were so cute together.

"Oh, before I forget, Andy had to run to the station to help Chief with something. He should be back in an hour." Johny told me.

"Darn." I pouted; I wanted a sexy shower to. "Well where's everyone else then?" If I couldn't have a very hot shower with my husband, there had to be something else I could do.

"Ian and Marty are in the pool, I don't know about Kim and Taylor though." He told me. I slid down in my chair, pouting more and crossing my arms. "You are such a little drama queen, Ben." Johny chuckled. I just stuck my tongue out at him in response.

When he didn't provide any advice as to what I should do to ease my boredom I gave up on pouting and wandered out into the living room looking for something to do. It was strange, being back in my elaborate mansion. I'd lived in a debilitated building for two years with only the barest essentials, but now I'd been thrown back into a world where I had everything I wanted times ten. And I didn't know what to do with any of it.

Not that I would admit it out loud, but it was kind of scary being back. I found myself preparing all my food by hand and wanting to cook it over the fire rather then stick it in the microwave or the oven. It required actual thought to do things that were second nature before. The sheer size of my house was daunting compared to the building we'd lived in. Physical effort was required to step out into large open spaces alone. We'd all been to paranoid down there to do that.

It was all very confusing and I found myself really, really wanting Andy to curl up with. But Andy was working. There had to be something else to occupy my time.

"Play the piano." Johny suggested as he walked by me and up the stairs. He pointed to my grand piano sitting in the alcove. It was one of my three grand pianos, another was in Andy and me's room, and the last was in the attic library.

Playing the piano was the only talent I had. Andy said otherwise though, he always lectured me when I said it was my only talent. I smiled slightly, thinking of all the sweet things he said to me about it. Sometimes I would say it was my only talent just so I could hear him say how beautiful and amazing and talented I was, even if I didn't always believe all of it.

I sat down and lifted the cover on the keys, running my fingers along them gently. Someone had taken very good care of my piano while I was gone; there wasn't a single piece of dust on it. Smiling slightly I started to play the first thing that came into my head. It was a song I had written for Andy when we first started seeing each other.

Closing my eyes I let the notes flow out around the room. It felt good to play again; I'd missed it so much. Playing was one of the few things that could help me calm down when I was upset or anxious. The relief of letting my worries flow out through the notes was something I had missed more than most other things.

"You never told me you could play." Allie's familiar voice said softly when the last note had faded away. I hadn't noticed him come back downstairs.

"You never asked." I grinned.

"Well, while you were so busy playing, Andy called you three times." He held up my phone which was blinking unhappily with missed calls. "You need to call him before he has a heart attack." I grinned sheepishly and took the phone from him pressing the call button twice to call Andy back.

"Ben! Are you okay?" Andy sounded frantic. I could also hear the sound of him driving, which more then likely meant he was rushing home because I hadn't answered his calls. Any other time in our lives I would've thought he was being silly, worrying so much, but not anymore.

"I'm fine, Andy. I'm sorry I scared you, I was playing the piano and didn't hear my phone." I told him in an attempt to calm him down.

"So you're perfectly fine?" He still sounded worried.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine." I assured him.

"…alright, I'm sorry I got so worried." I heard the car slowing down in the background.

"Its okay, Andy." I soothed, "You had a right to be worried after everything that's happened."

"I love you." He said softly.

"I love you to, so, so much." I smiled softly. I definitely was not the most secure person in the world and during the last two years I'd been terrified that he wouldn't love me anymore. Now every time I heard him say it, it was like he was saying to me for the first time all over again. The feeling was amazing.

"I'll be home in a few minutes." Andy told me.

"Okay, I'll be waiting." I told him. He told me he loved me again then hung up.

"Hmm, that was much less of a panic attack then I was expecting from him." Allie mused.

"Same, I was expecting a full blown panic attack." I grinned. Allie just chuckled before wandering in the direction of the game room.

"Want to play pool?" He asked as he looked back over his shoulder.

"Nah, I'm going to wait on the porch for Andy to get home."

"Alright." He continued into the game room as I walked to front porch. Quickly I put on a warm jacket, gloves and a scarf before going outside.

I flopped lazily into one of the chairs on the porch, staring eagerly down the long driveway for any sign of Andy. After about ten minutes I started to get antsy, Andy said it would only take him a few minutes to get home. When I tired to call him I only got his voicemail. Briefly I considered going inside to get Allie, but decided it wasn't worth bothering him. Just a quick walk down the driveway was something I could take care of on my own. No one would even notice I was gone before I was able to get back.

My mind made up, I jumped down from the porch, ignoring the steps completely, and started at a brisk pace down the gravel road that served as our driveway. After a five minute walk (and still no sign of Andy) I reached the front gates. The tall wrought iron stretched well over my head, not that that was very hard, and was bordered on each side by a brick pillar out of which sprung a fence stretching into the distance on each side.

There was no sign of Andy in either direction on the road, and I could see quite a ways. I chewed my lip and eyed the key pad that would open the gates. If I left the boundaries of the fence I wouldn't be under the protection of the wards that Johny had established to keep out anyone but the people we let in ourselves. That was a very dangerous idea, with Artemis still out there.

Eventually I settled on trying to call Andy again, almost twenty minutes had passed now since he said he would be home in just a few. Taking a deep breath I tried to focus and push away the thoughts of hatred and abandonment that always swelled up when I didn't know where Andy was, when he wouldn't answer my calls.

It was taking a lot more effort then it used to, two years without him had made me extremely insecure in our relationship. No matter how illogical I knew it was I couldn't help but think that he didn't care about me anymore. That he didn't love me as much after our two years apart.

I took a shaky breath and tried to focus on everything Andy had told me the night before; when I told him that I was afraid he didn't love me anymore.

" _Ben, tell me what's wrong. Please." Andy said softly. We were both lying in bed together but I couldn't bring myself to snuggle up with him. Instead I was curled up at the foot of the bed like a dog. When I'd been a sex slave as a child we were all taught to remain at the foot of the bed until requested otherwise by the people paying for our services. It was a hard habit to quell, even though I knew Andy would never treat me like they had._

" _Nothing." I mumbled, curling up tighter._

" _Ben, don't tell me it's nothing." He chastised gently. I just shook my head and covered my face with my arms. "I won't hurt you like they did, Ben. I love you." Andy was the only person who knew enough about my past to recognize what I was doing for what it was._

" _Why?" I mumbled through my arms._

" _Why do I love you?" He clarified. I just nodded. "I love you because you're smart, much smarter then I am but you don't put me down because of it or make me feel stupid. I love how exquisitely beautiful you are, you never fail to look amazing no matter what else is going on. I love your smiles, every single one of them. Your guilty smile, your huge grin when you're really happy, your little smirk when I let you top, all of them. I love how much energy you have, how you're always bouncing around and excited. God, Ben, there's so much I love about you. We'd be here for hours if I tried to tell you all of it."_

" _Really?" I peaked out from between my arms._

" _Really." He smiled softly and gently tried to pull my arms away from my face. I let him pull them away and leaned up a tad to meet him the middle for a sweet kiss. He gathered me into his arms and pulled me onto his lap, never breaking our kiss. Finally we broke off for air and I nuzzled into the collar of his shirt, curling up happily in his arms. For me this was the safest place in the world, nuzzled against him with his strong arms wrapped around me._

_I knew he was being sincere in what he told me, but I also knew it would probably never really set in. My past made it impossible._

I sighed softly, opening my eyes again. There was still no sign of Andy in either direction so I gave in and pushed in the code to open the gate. It slid open and I stepped through and walked quickly up the road to a place where I could see farther.

After several minutes I finally spotted Andy's car in the distance. I smiled happily and waved, I could just make out his returned wave. Suddenly though he sped up and started honking his horn repeatedly. I frowned slightly, trying to figure out what was going on. Just as I turned to look behind me I felt something slam into my back.

I screamed and thrashed out frantically, trying to get whatever it was off of me. There was a screech of tires and I heard Andy growl as he shifted into his wolf form. I covered my head as Andy leapt towards me and tore my attacker off of me. Rolling onto my back I saw that what he was fighting was a humanoid demon, though I couldn't say what type. The only reason it could've been able to be out was the thick clouds blanketing the sky.

I scrambled towards Andy's car in search of a gun, hoping he had Johny's special made witchlight bullets and condensed magic in it. If it didn't my miniscule runes would keep me from firing the gun. I only had two (one for balance, not that it seemed to help much, and one for sight) since I was only half shadow hunter I couldn't handle more then that, but it was enough to keep a regular gun from firing. Before I could even reach the car I felt something grab my ankle and yank me backwards.

I yelped and flipped onto my backside, kicking out with my free foot. But the demon dodged it and slammed its other hand into my stomach. Wheezing I looked around frantically for Andy only to see him attempting to hold his own against five more humanoid demons. He was already covered in blood from himself and the demons. I started to scream as loud as I could, hoping my voice would carry all the way back to the mansion through the cold winter air.

The demon that was holding onto my leg continued to punch me with it's free hand, grinning maliciously as I yelped in pain. Eventually it finally occurred to the thing that my screaming could draw unwanted attention. I managed to scream one last time before it clasped its hands over my wind pipe. I struggled violently and attempted to kick it off, but it wasn't working, the demon was much stronger then I was.

It's a terrifying feeling, having your air way slowly pressed shut. No amount of flailing and kicking was getting me anywhere and I could feel my brain starting to shut down as my vision blurred. The last thing I heard was Andy yelping in pain, the yelp changing midway into a human scream before he fell silent. The last thing I saw was the blurry form of Andy lying in the snow, his throat slit open.


	3. Lost

.-.-.-.-.-.-. Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated. ~Lamartine .-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Ha! I win, Alec. You freaking suck at pool." Ian grinned.

"Yes, well, I never said I was very good in the first place either." I laughed as I gathered all the balls from the pockets so we could play a new game.

"I play Alec this time!" Marty chimed.

"Hu uh, you called playing winner, that means you play me." Ian disagreed.

"Hell no, I know you'll kick my ass. My level of skill with this game is about the same as Alec's so I might stand some chance against him." Marty shot back.

"So? You still said you'd play winner and I'm the winner so you're playing me." Ian protested. Their bickering continued to increase in volume with every new jab at the other to the point they were almost shouting now. I just shook my head and smiled a tad, these two were always interesting to be around.

"Guys, shut up." I said suddenly, holding my hand up. They both silenced themselves immediately. I listened carefully, trying to discern the sound I thought I'd heard. I was about to write it off to my imagination when I heard it again, a scream off in the distance. Ian and Marty both stiffened when they heard the noise.

"What…who is that?" Ian whispered.

"It can't be anyone we know, can it? No one is outside…right?" Marty replied just as quietly.

"Oh, shit. Ben!" I took off running for the porch, Ian and Marty were right behind me. Bursting through the doors I swung my head around in search of any sign of Ben. He wasn't on the porch and I could see his boot-prints trailing off into the snow down the driveway.

"Ian, Marty, I want you two on each side of me. Do not, under any circumstances, be more then five feet away from me. I don't care what happens you do not go any further then that; am I clear?" I said quickly as I snapped my fingers causing several serf blades to appear. They both nodded as they took the weapons and we all took off down the driveway.

My heart was pounding in my chest, I was terrified that I was going to find Ben slaughtered in the snow. I couldn't lose him; he meant so much to me. I loved him, not the way that I loved Magnus, but I still loved him. He was sweet and caring and kind and he didn't deserve to get hurt more then he already had in his life.

I forced myself to run faster, finally reaching the open gate. Without hesitation I sped through the gate and stopped only to look for any sign of Ben. I didn't see him but I saw Andy's car at the top of the hill to the right with one of its doors hanging open. Taking off again I sped up the hill with Ian and Marty still right next to me.

Ben was nowhere in sight but there was blood everywhere and Andy was lying in the stained snow. I gasped and rushed to him when I saw that his throat was slit open and leaking blood onto the ground. Bending down I felt for and found a very weak pulse.

"Hang in there, Andy." I carefully started to heal the edges of his wound back together. When I was finished I picked him up and carried him back just inside the gate; he would be safe inside the wards.

"What about Ben? You said he was out here…" Ian said as he looked around worriedly.

"He is…" I thought carefully for several seconds. "Marty, take Andy back to the house and tell the other's what's going on. Tell Magnus to do a tracking spell on Ben and to call me with what he finds. Ian, you're coming with me. We're going to search the forest near the car. Marty, tell Magnus we'll be back to the house in fifteen minutes and if you haven't heard from us by then you guys need to come after us."

"Okay." Marty and Ian both agreed, though they looked a little wary. Marty gave his brother a hug then took Andy from my arms and walked quickly towards the house.

Ian and I walked swiftly back to the car and stopped to look around. It was obvious that there had been a struggle. Ben had been tackled by something, escaped and gone for the car but he hadn't made it. Andy had leapt out of the car and shifted to his wolf form to fight at least two attackers, maybe more. Ben had been picked up by one of the attackers and they had run off into the woods with him.

Once we had read the signs left in the attack Ian and I walked carefully along the same path that the attackers had taken; their footprints were easy enough to follow in the snow. One of them was hurt, there were drops of demon blood along the trail they had left. Both of us took great care to be as silent as possible and keep all our senses alert.

After several minutes we came across what looked like an old mineshaft entrance. The snow around it was trampled down and Ben's bright pink scarf was snagged on one of the wooden beams. I carefully freed the scarf and tried to track him with it while Ian looked around for any other signs the attackers had left.

"Anything?" Ian whispered as he indicated the scarf.

"No. Nothing." I answered, clutching the scarf in my fist.

"We going in?" He pointed to the entrance.

"Yes. Stay close." I told him, he nodded. I tucked the scarf in my pocket and walked carefully into the cave. It was dark, but not enough that Ian and I's well trained eyes couldn't see. We walked in about fifteen feet before the tracked in snow vanished. Frantically I looked for some other indicator that would tell me where they had gone, but I found nothing.

"Alec, we need to go. We'll figure out what else to do back at the house with everyone else." Ian gently tried to pull me backwards. After another minute I gave in and followed him quickly back to the house.

The second we stepped in the door Magnus had his arms wrapped around me and I hugged him back tightly. Andy was on the couch, still out cold and pale from blood loss; Eric was clinging tightly to his hand. Everyone else (they had all come home by now) was pacing anxiously around the couch.

"Ben?" Eric asked worriedly.

"We couldn't find him. We followed the trail the attackers left into a mineshaft, but there was no way to tell which way they went when they were inside. I found Ben's scarf at the entrance to the shaft and tried a tracking spell, but it didn't work." The guilt of letting whoever had done this to Ben get away with taking him was crashing down on me. I shouldn't have let him go out on the porch alone. I should've noticed when he'd been gone to long and gone to look for him. I should've told him not to leave the porch under any circumstances.

"My tracking spell didn't work either, and neither did Jonny's." Magnus said quietly, interrupting my guilt trip. I clung to him tightly and he responded by tightening his own hold on me.

"Is the trail still there?" Erin asked. I nodded. "Then I'm going to go look, maybe I can tack Ben by sent."

"I'm coming with you." Johnny said, J.C. said the same.

"I am to." I tried to pull away from Magnus a tad.

"No you are not." Magnus said sternly, not letting me go.

"What do you mean I'm not?" I growled slightly.

"Look, Alec, this…this is probably Artemis's doing. And if it is, whoever he had take Ben only wanted Ben, not Andy. I don't want to risk that they might be after you to since you were in those caves as well. I just…I just think it would be safer if you, Ian, Marty, Kim and Taylor stayed in the house for now and let the rest of us look for Ben." Magnus explained.

"But…Magnus…" I wanted to argue with him, but he was right. "…Fine." I said dejectedly.

Erin J.C. and Johnny left quickly, the others remained there quietly. Ben was family to Kim, Taylor, Ian, Marty and I. We'd all become family in the last two years and we all felt how strong that bond was now that Ben was gone. We all felt that ache of loss.

I clung tightly to Magnus as the guilt grew stronger. What was I supposed to tell Andy when he woke up? It was my fault that his fiancé had been taken away from him again. How did I tell him that?

"It'll be alright, Baby. We'll find him." Magnus attempted to sooth me.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." I said quietly as I pulled away from him to go stand near Andy and the others.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

It had been almost an hour now since Eric and the other's left to try and track Ben, and we still hadn't heard from them. We had agreed when they left that if they weren't back after an hour and a half Magnus would go look for them with Chief who had shown up after they left.

Andy was still unconscious but he'd regained a lot of the color in his face. The slash on his throat was only a faint, almost impossible to see, scar. I was holding his hand gently and still trying to figure out what I was supposed to tell him. Ian and Marty were playing darts in an attempt to distract themselves; Kim and Taylor were watching them play. Magnus was leaning against the side of one of the bay windows and looking off into the distance. His arms were crossed and he was frowning slightly. Every-now-and-then he would try another tracking spell to no avail. Chief was sitting in one of the arm chairs near the couch, a worried expression on his aged features.

I was so lost in my mind trying to figure out what to tell Andy that I almost missed his eyes fluttering open.

"Andy." I said quietly, trying not to startle him.

"Alec…" He mumbled, taking his hand away to rub at his eyes. "What happened?"

"…you and Ben got attacked, just outside the gate." I told him.

"Ben and I…O' god where is he?" Andy said frantically as he jumped up from the couch. I jumped up as well and put my hands on his shoulders in an attempt to get him to sit back down.

"Andy, please, I'll tell you everything, just sit down." I said when my attempts at making him sit had no effect.

"NO! Tell me where Ben is, now!" Andy was shaking with anger and worry. The hair on his arms and face started to slowly lengthen.

"They took him, Andy. Whoever attacked you took him. We've tried tracking spells over and over and haven't found anything. Eric, J.C. and Johnny went out to try and track him by scent." I told him. By now everyone was staring at us as I tried to calm Andy down enough to at least keep him from shifting.

Andy was quite for moment before he clenched his eyes shut and growled, shoving me roughly away from him. Before any of us could react he had shifted into his wolf form and sprinted out the door.

"Fuck! Stay here!" Magnus shouted at the rest of us as he took off after him. It took everything I had to stay put in the house and not follow them outside. I sobbed angrily and slammed my fist into the wall in frustration. I couldn't just sit here.

"I'll be in my room." I mumbled to the others after a moment. None of them said anything in response so I stalked up the stairs and into my room. Once there I sat on the floor next to the bed and put my head in my hands as I started to sob.

What good was I if I couldn't protect even one person? I had let one of the people I loved most in the world slip away from me because I'd been careless and stupid. If Ben or any of the other's died from this then their blood was on my hands. I continued to sob until I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. It was the new one Magnus had gotten me and I was still figuring out how to use it so it took me a moment to answer.

"Hello?" I asked. The number wasn't one I had in my phone, but so far Magnus and Ben were the only one's whose numbers were programmed in.

"I imagine you're feeling rather worthless at the moment, Alec." A smug voice answered.

"Artemis…" My eyes widened slightly, but I didn't move from where I was.

"Though, maybe I should call you Allie. Ben seems to be quite fond of that little nickname for you; he keeps saying it over and over." Artemis continued as if I hadn't spoken.

"Where is he, Artemis?" I growled.

"Ben? Oh, he's right here with me." He answered. "I suppose you want him back?"

"Yes." I ground out.

"Well then, I suggest you listen very closely, Allie." I flinched at the use of Ben's nickname for me. That was a name _only_ Ben was allowed to use. "You will walk outside the wards around that mansion; you will bring no one with you and tell no one you're going. If anyone does follow you or know you're going then the only way you'll get Ben back is one little piece at a time. Am I clear?"

"Yes."

"Good. You have ten minutes." He hung up quickly.

I leapt up to grab a thick jacket as well as Ben's scarf which I tucked into the inner pocket. Grabbing several more items, my gloves, a water bottle and a small blanket, I tucked them all into my jacket and took off outside through the glass door onto the second story porch. I took care to make no noise as I slipped off into the forest.

I jogged until I felt my ears pop from passing through the wards, then I just stood there and waited. Anxiously I shifted from foot to foot, waiting for something to happen.

"You came." A smooth voice said from the shadows. The voice was soon accompanied by the sight of Artemis's face. He was dressed in his normal Victorian clothing with a smug smirk adorning his features.

"Yes, I came. Now tell me where Ben is."

"No, that's to simple. It wouldn't be any fun that way." His smirk turned quickly into a haunting grin as he took a step forward, daring me to shy away from him. I stood my ground and glared at him.

"Where. Is. Ben." I snarled.

"I'll tell you that, but you have to do something else for me first."

"What?"

"You have to let me kill you."


	4. Choices

.-.-.-.-.-.-. Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. ~J.K. Rowling.-.-.-.-.-.-.

_I was quiet for a moment before I responded, "What would killing me solve?"_

" _It would take away a threat. No shadowhunter should be able to do magic, you are a freak, a dangerous freak." He whispered threateningly as he took a step closer. I held my ground and glared coldly at him._

_I opened my mouth to speak, but he interrupted me "Then again…there is one other option."_

" _And what is that?" He grinned at my question, the corners of his mouth curling up his face._

" _You can either let me kill you, or let me marry you." Despite my best efforts I felt my mouth fall open at his bold statement._

"Marry _me?" I could taste the shock dripping from my words._

" _Yes,_ Allie _," He grinned when I flinched at the use of the nickname, "you see, it's not very well known anymore, especially among shadowhunters, but ceremonial marriage is a very powerful thing for downworlders and the people they marry. Ceremonial marriage, when done properly and by the right people can allow the two partners to share power and it will allow the stronger of the two to control the other."_

" _Make up your mind, are you afraid of what I can do or do you want my…power for yourself?"_

" _I want your power if I can control it, otherwise I want it gone." He said simply. "But don't change the subject,_ Allie _, you have a decision to make. Either marry me and have Ben sent safely home, or let me kill you and have Ben sent safely home. It's up to you."_

_What was I supposed to do? I had to get Ben home, no matter the consequences, but if what Artemis was saying was true he could marry me and use my powers to kill hundreds of innocent people. But I didn't want to die either; I didn't want to leave Magnus again. Never before had I seen him as happy as he'd been since I'd come home. We were finally going to get married…_

" _Thinking of Magnus, are we?" Artemis inquired in a falsely innocent tone as he saw my eyes widen just slightly. "You know, it's very sweet that you proposed to him and all, but did you honestly think Magnus of all people would really want to marry a mortal just because he loved him? I've known Magnus for two centuries and despite how he seems, Magnus isn't one to have many frivolities in life, he prefers things simple with little money to his name. But the one thing he's always wanted more of, the one thing every warlock always wants more of is power and we'll do anything to get it. Magnus proves that in every action he takes. Going to Ragnor Fell to find the Book of White, hiding the Book and keeping it to himself, playing nice with the Clave so they don't pay to much attention to what he does…dating a shadowhunter with the potential to have a greater power then anyone has ever seen."_

" _What…what are you talking about? I've only had this power since you put me in that damned cave! I never had_ potential _to have this power." My mind was racing now with the implications of what he had said if he was right._

" _Oh, but you have had the potential. Let's think about this for a moment, shall we? When were you born? During the original attempted reign of Valentine. What happened to the other children born during that time, Jace, Clary and Jonathan? They got angelic and demonic powers because angel and demon blood was fed to their mothers. What other children, that are still alive, were born during that time? You. So, why would you ever assume that Valentine didn't do the same thing to your mother that was done to Clary and Jonathan's mother? To Jace's mother?" He laughed maliciously as he saw the color draining from my face. "Magnus never loved you. He only made you think he did because he knew there was no way Valentine wouldn't have experimented on you as well. And how convenient for him, you being gay and desperate for someone to tell you it was okay, and who better then Magnus to do that?"_

"Alec, what are you doing out here? It's freezing." Ian asked from behind me, startling me out of my remembrance. After my conversation with Artemis outside the wards I had come back to the mansion. I'd made my decision and he'd given me very precise instructions as to what I had to do to get Ben back.

"Sorry, just thinking." I mumbled as I walked back inside, brushing past him and trying not to focus on the confused look on his face.

I walked through the kitchen and into the living room to find Andy still unconscious on the couch. Magnus had brought him back after he'd collapsed from the effects of his earlier blood loss. The other's had come back as well, with no idea as to where Ben was. I walked quietly passed all of them and towards the stairs intending to go upstairs to carry out the instructions I'd been given.

"Alec, Baby? We're going to find him, no matter what, you know that right?" Magnus asked softly from behind me as he followed me up the stairs. I clenched my jaw and didn't bother to respond. "Alec, talk to me, please." He begged as we walked into our room.

"Leave me alone, Magnus."

"Wh…what? Alec, why are you mad at me?" He sounded hurt, but I ignored it.

"Who says I'm mad?" I still hadn't turned to face him.

"I...you sound mad at me…"

"I'm not."

"Then tell me what's going on, you're obviously upset and it kind of sounds like you're upset at _me_."

"I'm not, Magnus."

"Alec, please, why can't you just trust me enough to tell me? I love you, I would think-" I cut him off.

"No you don't, Magnus." I turned to face him finally, a wistful look on my face. "You love what I can do. Not me. Now please, just go away." I turned back to face the glass wall.

"Al…Alec!" He sounded hurt, and scared. But it was just an act, just like everything else.

"Magnus, go." I said softly.

"Alec, damnit I _love_ you, not this damn power! What the hell made you think it was the other way around?" I took a shaky breath, then carefully raised my hand and used my magic to gently move him out the door and lock him out. I could hear him pounding on the wood and shouting different spells in an attempt to open it. Ignoring the ache coursing through me at pushing him away I locked the glass door to the porch and drew all the curtains.

When I was sure there was no way for him to get in I set about doing as Artemis had instructed. I took off everything Magnus had ever given me, the necklace, the clothes, all of it. I put on a pair of faded jeans and a faded sweater much like my old ones. I wrote a short letter requesting the other's not to look for me and telling them that Ben would be home soon. When I was satisfied that I had completed the instructions I'd been given I took a deep breath and one last look around. One last look at the room Magnus and I had shared since he'd rescued me. One last look at the pictures of us.

I walked over to the door where Magnus, and now the others, were still pounding, "I'm sorry." Their pounding stopped, but before they could respond I was twisting the ring around my finger and being sucked away. The ring was from Artemis and it fit loosely around my thumb. It was an old, very rare ring that could transport the wearer to anywhere in the world by twisting it around your finger. Artemis had altered it so that it would take me to only one specific location, though he didn't tell me where.

"You came." Artemis said from the shadows as I stumbled to a halt..

"Did I have a choice?" I looked around at my surroundings. It was dark; no light permeated the house we were in. At least, I assumed it was a house. There were furnishings and a plush carpet with elegant paintings decorating the walls. But despite its elegance, and slightly Victorian flare, the place gave off a haunting air. There were cobwebs and dust hanging from everything they could cling to.

"Not if you wanted Ben to live, no." He took a step towards me, his hand outstretched.

"No." I growled, taking a step back. "Take me to Ben."

He frowned slightly and let his hand drop after a moment. "Fine. Follow me." He turned on his heal and walked through the house to a thick wood door which he pulled open with some effort. Behind it was a steep flight of stone steps with a softly glowing light emanating from the bottom. Artemis lead the way down and then through a short corridor to a row of cells. A single cell on the very end was lit by a torch hanging from the wall.

"Ben!" I exclaimed in relief, pushing passed Artemis and using my magic to unlock the cell.

"Allie!" He sobbed as he ran into my outstretched arms. I held him tightly as he sobbed and clung to me. Looking down I saw a metal cuff around his tiny wrist with a thick metal chain trailing down to the floor and over to the wall where it was bolted securely. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry Allie. I just, just wanted to see Andy." He wailed.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, Ben. I'm going to get you home, don't worry, I'm going to get you home." I soothed.

"As…touching as this is, I am afraid that I'll have to cut it short." Artemis flicked his wrist and the chain attached to Ben's wrist shortened, yanking him away and up against the wall.

"Allie!" Ben was terrified, his eyes wide and, along with the streaks in his hair, as white as snow. I wanted so bad to reach for him, but I resisted for fear that Artemis would hurt him if I did.

"It's going to be okay, Ben. I swear on the Angel it's going to be okay." I choked back my sobs as I watched the terror and confusion flit across his face as Artemis pulled me away and I didn't resist.

"Allie!" I heard Ben scream one last time before Artemis slammed the large wooden door to the dungeon shut and shoved me roughly against a wall.

"Now then, _Allie_ , you are going to go back the room we came from and stay put while I'm gone. If you try to leave, try to contact your friends, go down to see Ben, Ben will die slowly in front of your eyes. Is that clear?"


	5. Agony

.-.-.-.-.-.-. It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they can't see the problem. ~G.K. Chesterton.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Alec! Alec, open the door!" I shouted as I pounded the thick wood in desperation. I couldn't figure out the spell he'd used to lock me out and thus I couldn't use the counter spell.

"Magnus, what's going on?" Johnny had come running up the stairs, J.C. and the others were right behind him.

"Alec…I don't know, he was…was saying all these things that didn't make any sense and then he locked me out and I can't get the damn door open and he won't answer me." I rambled, continuing to pound on the door and uselessly twist the handle.

"You guys keep trying this door, I'll try the porch." Johnny disappeared into Andy and Ben's room and I assumed out onto the porch.

"Alec, Alec open the door!" I sobbed, pounding my fist uselessly against it. He had to open it, he had to. I had to make him realize how _stupid_ he was being, how much I loved _him_. I didn't care about this stupid power; I'd never even considered that he might have it. Alec was everything to me, magic or no magic. Dying for him wouldn't even require a second thought, not with how much I loved him.

The other's were pounding on the door now as well, but we all stopped when we heard Alec speaking softly on the other side,

"I'm sorry." As soon as the words had faded from the air the door gave way and we burst into an empty room. Alec was nowhere in sight and Johnny just shook his head we looked to him to ask if he'd seen anything through the glass.

"Magnus, what did he say?" Chief asked gently.

"He…he kept saying all this stuff about how I didn't love him, about how I only loved his power…"

"Power?" J.C.'s brows knitted together in confusion.

"I…" What did I tell them? Alec didn't want them to know, but now... "He…he can do magic. We don't know how, or why, but ever since he was in those caves he's been able to do magic, magic he hasn't even heard of."

"Okay, well as strange as that is, why would he think you loved that power more then him?" Eric inquired.

"I don't…I don't know." I was about two steps away from a full blown panic attack now, and I could tell that the others could see it as they glanced at each other.

"Why don't you come sit down, sweetheart?" Kim asked in her normal, motherly tone. She came over and carefully guided me to a chair where I proceeded to curl up in a small ball.

"So, where did Alec go then?" One of the twins asked.

"Home to New York, maybe?" The other responded.

"I'll call them and see if he's there." Chief offered as he pulled out his phone and walked into the hall. I waited in tense silence with the others for him to come back. When he did he just shook his head slightly and said they had no idea where Alec was. I broke down into sobs then, curling up even tighter and shoving Kim away as she tried to comfort me.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one. ~Rita Mae Brown.-.-.-.-.-.-.

I slid down the wall, attempting to fight the tears prickling behind my eyelids. I had to do this. I had to protect Ben and get him home safely. No matter what it took, I had to get him home. He deserved be safely back in Andy's arms, deserved to never have to even _think_ of any of this again. Even if it meant betraying everyone, I owed it to Ben. I owed it to him for keeping me sane, for caring.

I didn't want to betray Magnus, I loved him. But he would move on. He'd moved on before from the other men and women he'd loved. Besides, he probably didn't even really love me. Just my abilities…my damn abilities.

"Why did I get the magic?" I whispered quietly to myself, the dust floating in the air scattering on the exhale of the words. Slowly I lifted my hand up and let the little blue sparks flutter around it. Why now? Why couldn't I do this before? But…maybe I had been doing it for longer then I thought. Maybe it wasn't ever the necklace Magnus gave me, or maybe that necklace just fed my powers.

At the thought of the necklace I reached up to grasp it, like I always did when I was upset, but it wasn't there. Clenching my eyes shut against the onslaught of pain I tried to fight down the feeling of guilt at what I'd done to Magnus. Even if he didn't love me I had believed that he did and that was excruciating. I'd fallen for it. Just like I fell for everything else. I'd fallen for believing Jace could love me, I'd fallen for Sebastian's charm, I'd fallen for so many damn things but none of them hurt as much as this.

I was a gullible idiot for being tricked into believing Magnus. After everything, after all the betrayals, I was still willing to blindly trust Magnus. And this is where it had gotten me. Curled up against the wall of some unknown house in some unknown city in some unknown country. Now what?

"Well, well. It seems Master Artemis has brought another…thing into the house." A snooty voice said from the shadows. I leapt to my feet, reaching for a knife that wasn't there.

"Who the hell are you?" I snarled.

"My name is Archer." A young man stepped out of a corner, though I wasn't sure how he'd gotten there because there was no door and he hadn't been there before. He was around five feet, six inches, light brown hair pulled back into a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck and startlingly green eyes gazed haughtily from his face. Sharp features and the pale skin brought on by vampirism served only to accentuate his distinct looks and Victorian clothing. And he was definitely a vampire. "First the sniveling child that he took to the basement and now you…I do wonder what Master Artemis has planned."

I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by an angry shout from the doorway behind me.

"ARCHER! I ordered you to stay in the foyer, not to go gallivanting through the house and especially not to talk to anyone." Artemis snarled.

"I'm sorry, Master." The young man bowed low and backed out of the room, his head still hanging.

"I _greatly_ apologize, _Allie_." Artemis stepped up to me with what I assumed was supposed to be a sweet smile tracing across his face. "He is not the best servant, that retch Camille polluted him with her kindness. He was one of her subjugates, but I stole him from here when she fled the city years ago. It was simple enough to put a controlling spell on him, though it seems I may need a stronger one."

"I don't give a shit about your servants."

"Ah ah, let us use kinder words, _Allie_." He continued to accentuate Ben's nickname for me, reveling in my wince that always accompanied it.

"Look, I did everything you asked me to. I severed every connection I had with my family, friends…and Magnus. I put anti-tracking spells on myself. I left them a letter saying not to look for me. I came to this house using that ring you gave me. Send. Ben. Home."

He stared quietly at me for several moments. "Are you sure you won't be persuaded into changing your decision?"

"Completely." I ground out.

Another long pause, "Fine then. Archer." The servant came in obediently. "Fetch the boy from the dungeon and do _not_ eat him." Archer nodded and slithered away into the shadows. I listened closely as he unlatched the heavy door to the stairs, tensed as it creaked open, held my breath as he slipped almost silently down the warped stairs, flinched at the echo of Ben's sobs as he was dragged out of the cell.

"Allie!" Ben sobbed as he tore out of Archer's grasp and bolted to me. I wrapped my arms around him protectively and exhaled the breath I'd been holding. He was cradling his wrist that had been cuffed and there was blood dripping from places where the cuff and dug in and sliced at his skin.

"Shh, shh, it's okay." I soothed as I healed his wrist. I pulled my jacket off and wrapped it around his shoulders, it nearly engulfed him.

"Say goodbye." Artemis grinned maliciously.

"What…what is he talking about, Allie?" Ben turned his shining eyes up to me, pleading for an answer. I leaned down and softly kissed his forehead.

"Tell everyone I'm sorry for all of this." I told Ben. When he opened his moth to speak I silenced him with a gentle kiss, a tear rolling down my cheek as he melted into it. Ben loved me, not my powers. That I was sure of. Ben hadn't known me until we'd met in that cave; he had no way to know I even had the potential to do magic. He loved me for me. "I love you." I whispered, hugging him tightly.

"Allie…" He looked up at me again but what he had wanted to say was cut off as Artemis snapped his fingers to transport Ben home.

Quickly I whispered a spell that would let me see Ben, to see that he was home safely. A small circle flickered to life just in front of me. I glimpsed through it to see Ben sobbing in Andy's arms with everyone huddled around them. Before I could see more the little circle vanished under Artemis's doing.

"There, he is home safely. Now…onto the second part of our deal." Artemis shoved me against a wall, a knife against my throat. I didn't protest.

.-.-.-.-.-.-. We must try not to sink beneath our anguish... but battle on. ~J.K. Rowling.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Andy…" Eric whispered softly from behind me.

"What, Eric?" I tried not to snap, but I wasn't sure that I succeeded. I wasn't in the best of moods. I'd been unconscious two times today, had my throat slit and my husband had vanished. Again. Not to mention his best friend had just suddenly run off.

I'd awoken to find Chief pacing in front of the couch I'd been placed on. He told me what had happened with Alec, told me that Magnus had broken down and that Johnny had had to knock him out so he didn't lose control of his magic. Magnus had woken up a little while ago though; he was now sitting on the couch with the always motherly Kim trying to get him to drink some hot chocolate. He was stubbornly refusing, his only response an empty gaze out the window into the blizzard and an occasional glare shoot at Kim for his efforts. I couldn't blame him, he'd lost his fiancé, I'd lost my husband. I knew that pain.

Eric and Johnny were upstairs in Alec and Magnus's room looking to see if maybe he'd left a note. They hadn't had any luck so far. Everyone else was in the kitchen poking at food they weren't going to eat.

"We'll find him. We'll find Ben, and Alec to." Eric wrapped his arms around me, pressing his stomach to my back. We'd always been close; we were identical twins after all.

"I hope so." I whispered, my gaze searching the heavy, swirling snow outside the window.

We both stood their quietly for awhile, trying to figure out what to do now. Our quite, withdrawn musings where interrupted by a sob from the middle of the room. I spun around, my eyes widening.

"Ben!" I shouted as I ran towards him. He fell forwards into my arms, collapsing and sobbing against me. In an instant everyone was around us. I lowered Ben to the floor, sitting down as well and pulling him onto my lap. There was blood on his wrist, but no wound. Other then that he didn't seem hurt, just a few bruises. A thick coat was draped around his shoulders, a coat I didn't recognize.

"Andy, Andy, he has Allie!" Ben sobbed, his hands clawing at my shirt as he tried to pull himself even closer to me. I held him tightly, my arms encircling him and one hand rubbing soothing circles into his shoulder.

"Shh, shh, Baby, it's okay, you're safe now. Take a deep breath and tell me who has Allie." He complied, managing a few deep, shaky breaths.

"Artemis has him, we, we were in some huge, old, Victorian looking house with a dungeon in the basement. There was a vampire there, his name was…was….Archer?" Ben nuzzled against me.

"A vampire named Archer?" Magnus spoke up. I looked over to him, his face was pale, his eyes wide.

"Do you know what Ben's talking about, Magnus?" Chief asked.

"I…yeah, I think I do." He whispered. "I think they're in London."

"Then we go to London. Do you know the exact place?" Johnny inquired.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I do." Magnus affirmed.

"Andy," Ben sniffed.

"Yes?" I brushed several strands of blond and pale pink hair from his face.

"Go with them. Help them find Allie." He stared up at me pleadingly.

"Ben…"

" _Please,_ Andy." He begged.

"Fine. But Eric is staying here with you." I said after a moment, looking to Eric for conformation that this was okay. Eric nodded in conformation that he was fine with it.

"I'll stay to." Kim spoke up. "I've never been much of a fighter."

"Alright, Chief, you should stay to. Just incase something happens." Johnny requested. Chief agreed and Johnny moved to open a portal. Magnus murmured another spell after Johnny's so that the portal would take them all to the right place even though only Magnus knew it. I kissed Ben and hugged him tightly before carrying him to the couch and wrapping him tightly in a warm blanket.

"I'll be back before you know it." I kissed him again and stepped away towards the portal. I looked back and saw Eric with his arm placed comfortingly around Ben. Placing a smile on my face for Ben to see I turned and stepped through the portal with the others.


	6. Heartbreak

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future."~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you going to stand there with that smug smile on your face forever or are you going to actually get around to killing me?" I ground out, masking my fear with anger.

"Actually, I was contemplating a much more fun way to kill you."

Before I could respond I felt the sensation of being sucked to a new location. The dizzying feeling threw me off balance and I stumbled once my feet contacted the ground again. Artemis used the sudden lack of balance to shove me to the ground, giving him the ability to leer over me. Damp, spiky grass jabbed at my back and the entire area was bathed in cloudy moonlight.

"Now then, here is what we are going to do." He tossed a knife at my feet just as I sat up. "You are going to take that knife, and you are going to fight me with it. There are spells in place here that will keep either of us from using any magic, so that knife is your only weapon."

"Fine." I stood up, bringing the knife with me. It was heavy with a dual edged blade, but it was a mundane knife. Without an angelic weapon there was only one way to kill Artemis, and that was a direct stab just to the right of his heart. That would be the central point of his magic, without that magic flowing through his veins he would die…hopefully.

Artemis had a knife of his own and it seemed to be a twin to mine. He was twirling it expertly in his hand as he slowly circled me. I matched him step for step waiting for the right moment to strike. But Artemis guarded himself well, I couldn't find an opening. If I'd had another weapon I would've attempted to throw the knife, but since it was the only one I had that option was out.

I started to shift my gaze between Artemis and the terrain surrounding us hoping to find a rock or a branch that could be helpful in some way. But there was nothing other then grass in every direction. Another thought occurred to me then, Artemis had said we couldn't do magic where we were. But the range of a spell that stopped magic within its boundaries couldn't be too far. Maybe, if I could just hold Artemis off long enough, I could make it outside the bounds of the spell to where I could use magic.

That seemed to be the best (and only viable) plan I could come up with. I took a deep breath and dove towards Artemis despite the fact that he had provided no opening for an attack. He cackled and plunged his knife into my arm. I hissed and tore away from him, sprinting and hoping for the familiar pop that would signify I had breeched the edge of the spell.

"Where do you think you are going?" Artemis shouted. I paid no attention and kept running. Before I could get more the a few strides farther I felt his knife plunge into my back and probably into a few vital organs. Despite the pain I pulled away and spun around, digging my knife into Artemis's shoulder. He howled as I dug the knife in and twisted. I felt some of the tension against my blade give way and Artemis's left arm went limp.

Artemis screamed and jabbed at me with his knife leaving gashes and seeping wounds in multiple places. Pulling my knife from his shoulder I attempted to drive it into his chest to kill him, but before I could he had dug his own knife between my ribs. My eyes widened and I coughed as I felt blood pouring into my lung.

"Nice try." Artemis rasped.

My eyes started to roll back in my head despite my best efforts to stay conscious. I slipped backwards as I started to fade, the knife pulling out as I did. I could hear Artemis laughing above me as I fell to the ground. Just before I hit the grass I felt my ears pop.

With the last bit of strength I had I kicked out at Artemis's knee causing him to fall forward and land on top of me. Before he had time to react I used my magic to stab through him, assuring that he would die. His eyes widened in shock, then faded as his heart beat for the last time. Artemis's body went limp on top of me, but I didn't have the strength to move him.

I let the black void of unconsciousness…or maybe it was death, take me away. Artemis was dead which meant the people I cared about were safe, knowing that made it hard to fight anymore. I knew there were other reasons I should try to live, but I just couldn't think of them now…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "People so seldom say I love you and then it's either too late or love goes. So when I tell you I love you, It doesn't mean I know you'll never go, Only that I wish you didn't have to."~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I stepped through the portal, picturing Camille's mansion in London. It had been over a century since I'd last been there, but I remembered the place well enough. Andy and the others were right behind me, but I didn't pay them much mind. The only thing I cared about right now was getting Alec back into my arms. And then possibly slapping him for being so stupid.

I felt myself slip out of the portal and into the mansion. Before I was even solidly there I heard a thump from what I remembered as the direction of the library. I dashed towards the room, the others following suit. As I rounded the corner I saw Artemis with a knife to Alec's throat as he pulled him through a portal that shut as soon as they were through. I yelled frantically and tried to grab Alec, but they were gone before I could catch hold.

Johny was right behind me and instantly chanted the spell to re-open the portal. It didn't work. Johny and I tried several more times, using several different spells but to no avail. If we couldn't get that same portal to open we stood no chance of knowing where they'd gone.

"What now?" Andy asked after a tense silence.

Before anyone could respond Ian dashed out of the room, Marty quickly on his heels. They were back just as quickly, a struggling vampire trapped between them. I recognized him as Archer, he'd been one of Camille's subjugates back when I'd been with her. I wrenched him from the twins grasp, relishing in the fact that he still cowered in fear from me as I towered over him.

"Where are they?" I growled.

"I don't know." He responded, glaring up at me.

"Were. Are. They." I ground out, accentuating each word with a painful shock of magic. He winced at each one. I could see the debate raging behind his eyes, to tell or not to tell.

"A field, I don't know where. Master Archer never told me more then that." Archer responded tartly.

"There has to be some way for us to find them and I'm pretty damn sure you know what it is." Andy said from my side where he to was glaring down at Archer. Archer's eyes danced between us, his brows pulled low by his scowl.

"Master Artemis…he said it was a field where a great shadowhunter battle was fought. He said it was only fair for the shadowhunter he took to die in the same place his kin had been slaughtered by so many demons."

"Battle ground…but what battle ground?" Marty voiced everyone's thoughts.

"Yes, Archer, _what_ battle ground?" I growled.

"Master Artemis only said that it was a fresh hell for the shadowhunters, that having a shadowhunter killed there by a downworlder would anger the Clave." Artemis admitted reluctantly.

"A fresh hell…" Johny mused.

My eyes widened as I realized where they had to be. It had to be the battle ground of the final battle against Valentine. It was the only place Shadowhunters and Downworlders had ever fought side by side in exceptional numbers. For a shadowhunter to be killed there by a downworlder…

I dropped Archer to the floor and flung my hand in an elaborate movement to open a portal. Ignoring the confused glances from the others I rushed through it and into the large field where I had fought beside Alec years ago. The field where we had shared our powers to protect the people we loved. The field we had nearly died in.

I looked around frantically for any sign of Alec or Artemis but found none. The others had followed me through the portal and I heard as they stepped out onto the grass behind me.

"Are you sure this is where they are?" Andy asked.

"It has to be." I told him as I took off up a small hill, hoping to have a better view so I could find Alec. Everyone followed behind me, scanning their eyes around the moonlit field. We crested the hill and looked in every direction for any sign of them. My hopes drained, a constricting feeling wrapping around my chest when I saw nothing.

"Over there!" One of the others shouted. I didn't know who said it, but when I looked in the direction they were pointing I felt my world start to shatter. Maybe a hundred yards away was Alec, bathed in moonlight with Artemis draped over him. Neither was moving.

"Alec!" I shouted as I dashed towards them. The fastest I could run didn't seem near fast enough. Finally I collapsed next to them, shoving Artemis away and pulling Alec's limp body into my arms. I'd never seen him this hurt, not even after he'd been attacked by the greater demon. Blood had bubbled past his lips and dripped down his chin, there were gashes covering his arms, chest and back.

Frantically I pressed my fingers to his throat, feeling for a pulse. There was none to be found. I sobbed and started to heal him anyways.

"Please, Alec, please, please don't leave, please." I begged as I put everything I had into bringing him back.

"Magnus…" Johny said softly as he tried to pull my arm away. "Magnus, he's gone."

"NO!" I shouted angrily, shoving him away. Alec was not gone. Johny moved to try and stop me again, but Andy pulled him away, shaking his head slightly. Johny nodded reluctantly and went to stand with the others a few feet away. I continued to sob and cradle Alec to me. Gently I rocked him and healed him, telling him how much I loved him.

Just as I sealed the last wound I felt Alec cough and shudder in my arms. But I was terrified to look at him, terrified it was just in my head.

"Magnus…" His voice was raspy and almost inaudible, but it was his voice. It was Alec's voice. My Alec. I finally looked down at him. His eyes were just barely open, the blue clouded over, his chest rising and falling unevenly. I sobbed and clutched him to me tighter, practically shoving my strength into him so he would be okay. He had to be okay, he had to. No matter what it did to me he had to be okay.

"Alec, Alec, Alec…" I sobbed his name over and over into his mussed hair as I gently rocked him and healed him. Johny was next to us now, trying to help me heal him. He shouted at the others to get farther away so they wouldn't affect our magic. They complied instantly, jogging back too the top of the hill.

"Magnus, this, this isn't working…" Johny said hastily.

"Well what the fuck do you suggest then?" I sobbed, still clutching Alec to me. I could feel his heart struggling in his chest, just barely beating. Johny was quite for a moment, struggling for an answer.

"Magnus, you said he can do magic, that he's basically a warlock, right?" I nodded, not sure where he was going with this. "Does he have the same network of magic as a regular warlock?"

"Ye-yeah…" I still didn't get what Johny was thinking.

"Magnus, we can't save him by just trying to heal him, he's to far gone already…but if we try and make him immortal, there's a chance he'll make it. If he's got the same magic we do, we should be able to make him immortal with the spells used on regular warlocks."

I choked back my shock at the idea. Would Alec even want to be immortal? We'd never had the chance to even consider talking about something like that. And what if the spell didn't work, what if it killed him because he wasn't enough of a warlock?

"Magnus, you need to make a decision now." Johny pressed. I nodded and kissed Alec's head softly, hoping I was doing the right thing.

I looked at Johny, trying to mask my doubt, "Let's do it."


	7. Chaos

~*~*~*~*~*~"Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish."~*~*~*~*~*~

It felt like I was floating, kind of. I was warm and something soft was draped over me. Rolling onto my side I expected to find a very warm warlock there to nuzzle into. But all I found was the edge of the bed which nearly resulted in a trip to the floor.

"Last I checked, this floor isn't very good for falling on." A somewhat familiar voice chuckled, their hand reaching out to rest on my shoulder to keep me from falling. I cracked one eye open, prepared to grumble at whoever it was, telling them to get out of my room so I could sleep. But it wasn't my room that I saw, not the one at the institute, not the one at Magnus's flat and not the one at Ben's. It was a stark white room with not much to see…an infirmary room.

Glancing up I saw the person who had kept me from falling, Jace. I winced slightly when I realized I hadn't recognized his voice. He was my parabati, I should recognize him no mater what. Looking a little closer I saw how strained he looked, his face was pale with dark circles adorning his eyes, his perfect hair mussed and unwashed, his lips struggling to hold the ever-present smirk he wore.

"Jace…what's wrong?" I asked.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair, mussing it even more as he sagged into a chair next to the bed, "How much do you remember of what happened?"

"What happened…?" I trailed off, trying to pull the memories out. I remembered meeting with Artemis, going back to the house to do as he instructed…being in the old house and seeing Ben, being left in the old house… Seeing Ben again… "The last I remember is being in some field." I told him. Recalling the memories I realized why Magnus wasn't there in the room with me, I'd left him, betrayed him.

"You don't remember Magnus and the others coming to get you?" He clarified. I nodded, surprised that they had come, especially Magnus, and he continued. "Well, Artemis sent Ben home safely and he told the others about what had happened. They went to the house you were in, yes, Ben is safe, they went to the house you were in and that vamp told them where to find you. Artemis had taken you to a field and was fighting you. You managed to kill him, somehow, but he pretty much managed to kill you to. When Magnus and the others got there…you were dead, you had no pulse, no breathing, nothing. But Magnus tried to heal you anyways, that Johny guy said he freaked at seeing you dead and just wouldn't believe it. Somehow, Magnus managed to bring you back, but I guess it wasn't enough. They…" At this point Jace stopped, resting his head in his hands.

"They what, Jace?" I pressed.

"I don't, I don't know, it doesn't make any sense what they told me…" He mumbled.

"Well, tell me anyways, maybe it'll make sense to me."

"Magnus, he said something about you being able to do magic…" he stopped at the note of surprise in my intake of breath.

"Damnit." I mumbled. Now Jace knew, and if he did how many other people did? There was no way to get out of explaining everything now. I took a deep breath then told Jace everything. How I'd started to do magic when I'd been held captive in the caves, how only Magnus and Ben knew about it fully.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jace sounded betrayed, hurt.

"I…just, couldn't, I'm sorry." I whispered.

"Whatever, we'll deal with it later, it's not important now." Jace took a deep breath then plunged back into his story. "When they realized they still weren't going to be able to save you, Johny and Magnus…they…they made you immortal, somehow. I didn't really understand it." My jaw dropped at this. I knew I'd been able to do the magic warlock's could do, but I had _never_ thought I was enough of a warlock to be able to become immortal. I hadn't even considered that.

"You…you're serious?"

"Yeah…the Clave, they had the warlock council guy look at you, Magnus and Johny really managed to do it…"

"The Clave's involved?" Up until now I had just figured only Jace and my family knew, but if the Clave was involved… "Where's Magnus?" I almost shouted, bolting up and attempting to run from the room in search of him. If Magnus had been that upset over me being dead he wouldn't have left my side unless he was forcibly taken away. That meant the Clave had taken him somewhere…done something to him. Dear Angel if they hurt him in any way I would kill every single one of them.

"Alec!" Jace grabbed me and managed to wrestle me back onto the bed, though I refused to actually lie back down.

"Tell me where he is!" I demanded, feeling my breath hitch in panic.

"He, he and Johny are being held in the prison cells." Jace told me, keeping his hands firmly on my shoulders to prevent another escape attempt.

"What prison cells?" I was about ready to punch Jace in the face if he wouldn't let me go find Magnus.

"The Idris prison cells…" He said warily.

"We're in Idris? What the hell, Jace! Why the fuck didn't you tell me any of this first?" I was about one step away from a full out panic attack now. I could feel the magic swirling and raging just under my skin. Jace jumped back slightly when blue sparks crackled around my hands, though they didn't actually do anything to him other then catch him off guard.

"You…you really can…" He stared at the sparks, his face a conflicting slideshow of emotions.

"Just, just tell me what the Clave is doing." I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, reining the magic back in, back under control.

"Right now they've got the two of them locked up and they're holding a big council meeting to decide what to do next. All the members are there. I don't really know what's going on though, they won't let anyone in. The only thing I know is that they think Magnus and Johny made up the fact that you can do magic just so they could make you immortal." Jace told me.

"Well they better let me in; I'm the center of this whole damn thing." I replied tensely, standing up and walking towards the door. Jace looked like he was contemplating stopping me, but decided against it and just followed.

"What are you planning on doing, Alec?" He asked.

"I don't have the faintest idea." I confessed as I walked to the council room, Jace directing the way. Right now I couldn't focus on the fact that I was immortal now, that didn't mater. I just had to make sure Magnus and Johny wouldn't be punished for this.

"Well, do you have any idea how any of this happened in the first place? I mean, if we can prove it wasn't Magnus or Johny who did this to you, that you could actually do magic before and that they weren't the reason for it, it could help them a hell of a lot." Jace inquired.

"I don't though, Jace. I just started being able to do magic when we were in those caves. But I know it wasn't Artemis because he was caught off guard by the fact that I could do it." I told him.

"Well, is there _any_ other way it could've happened, anything you can think of?" He pressed.

"No there's no-" I stopped walking, remembering what Artemis had told me in the forest and again in the house we'd been in. "Valentine…" I whispered. Jace paled at this. I was starting to worry that he would pass out from loss of blood flow to his head.

"What about him?" He asked quietly.

"I was born while Valentine was trying to first take down the Clave; mom was pregnant with me while he was trying to take down the Clave."

"So what?" Jace snapped, he was touchy about Valentine.

"Jace, every other kid conceived during that time was experimented on by Valentine. Why would I be any different?" I explained.

"You think he experimented on Maryse to?" Jace raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Why wouldn't he? It would make sense don't you think? I mean, he experimented on one kid with demon blood, two with angel blood, why wouldn't he use downworlder blood on one to?"

"He…damnit, you're right. But how the hell do we prove that? Valentine is long gone, it's not exactly like we can ask him."

"Well what about his mansion, and the journals there?" Clary asked, stepping out from another room, baby Alex on her hip. Both Jace and I jumped at her sudden arrival. She chuckled slightly at the reaction, Alex giggling with his mother.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you boys." She kissed Jace on the cheek, trying to hold onto a squirming Alex. He was making grabby hands in my direction so I reached over and took him from his mother's arms, smiling at him softly. He stared up at me with his big eyes, giggling happily.

"It's alright." Jace told her. "But, Valentine's mansion blew up, you were there."

"So? Just because it blew up doesn't mean everything is gone. No one will go near the place, but the one or two that have say it's just a big pile of rubble. If there's rubble, there's a chance some of the journals are still there. Valentine journaled what he did to everyone else, if he did something to Alec I'm sure it would be there." Ah Clary, ever logical and optimistic Clary. It was a faint thread of hope, but it was something.

"So we go to his mansion then." I said confidently. Alex was still in my arms, playing with my fingers.

"…actually, um…" Jace mumbled, looking to Clary for support.

She glared at him, "You didn't tell him?"

"Tell me what?" I looked between them.

"You can't leave this building, Alec. The only reason the Clave isn't keeping you in a cell is because they believe you aren't at fault, that you had this done to you without your consent. But they aren't sure so they won't let you out." Clary told me.

"Then…then you two have to go, please." I looked between them, begging for help. Clary nodded instantly, looking to Jace who let out a deep breath then nodded as well.

"You'll watch Alex?" Clary asked. I was relatively sure that leaving me with my nephew was her way of making sure I didn't do anything stupid. It was probably going to end up rather effective. Probably.

"Yeah." I mumbled, bouncing Alex a little causing him to squeal happily.

"We'll figure this out, Alec." Clary assured, wrapping me in a hug. I returned it as best I could with little Alex in my arms.

"Where are the others?" I asked before they tried to walk away.

"Isabelle and Ben and his family are in there," She pointed to the room she had come out of. "Your parent's are talking to some Clave people. I don't know where."

"Thank you." They nodded and then walked away as I turned to enter the room.

I wasn't even through the door before Ben bolted to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He was followed quickly by Andy, Eric, Chief, Kim, Taylor, Isabelle and even J.C., though he only patted me on the shoulder lightly.

"You're okay?" Isabelle asked, running her eyes up and down me.

"I…I'm still debating that." Was the best I could come up with.

"Why do you have Alex?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, where did Clary go? And Jace for that matter." Isabelle peeked behind me, looking to see if they were still in the hall.

"They, they went to talk with some Clave officials. They asked me to watch Alex for them until they got back." I half lied. I didn't want fifty million questions right now. Walking across the room I sat down in a chair, Alex on my lap laughing happily as he entertained himself with his feet. I ignored the worried looks flitting between everyone and just played with him. He was an adorable chilled, big green eyes and soft blond curls. His smile was his mother's, his nose his fathers. His little laugh filled the room as I lightly ticked his belly. I was glad I'd gotten the chance to meet him; I just hoped I'd get the chance to watch him grow up.


	8. Fear

~*~*~*~*~*~*~Evening is a time of real experimentation. You never kind of want to look the same way.~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Clary, we aren't going to find anything." Jace mumbled behind me, throwing his arms wide for dramatic effect as he looked over the pile of rubble that had once been Valentine's grand mansion.

"Oh, shush." I elbowed him as I strode forward toward the portion of the pile that would've once been the library. That was where Jace and I had found the journals about Valentine's experiments before so it seemed the best place to start.

"Just out of curiosity, how _do_ you plan to sift through all of this fast enough to A, find something at all and B, get it back to the Clave officials in time for it to matter?" He inquired as he followed me over the dead grass littered with bits of marble and over the remaining stump of wall into the rubble filled ruins.

"I was thinking I could just use a location rune." I shrugged, looking around. Bits of the wooden bookshelves could be seen poking up from under the debris of the rest of the house. They were charred and singed, but still there.

"Location runes only work on _people_ though." Jace stood next to me, arms crossed as he surveyed the mess he seemed sure he was going to have to dig through.

"Do you want to help your brother or not?" I shot a sideways glance at him.

He sighed, dramatically, "Yeah, but still. Location runes don't work on objects."

I shrugged, "I'll just make my own then."

"Oh…that could work."

I chuckled and knelt down, my stele in my hand and the tip pressed against a large chunk of wall…or possibly cealing. Closing my eyes I exhaled softly, feeling around for something that felt right. I needed a rune that would locate an object, but a specific object even though I didn't know exactly what it was. After a moment I dragged the stele across the surface, making several quick marks. I looked down, examining my creation. It looked like a combination of the runes for precision, recall and the regular location rune. Pressing my fingers against it I thought repeated of what we were looking for.

After a moment it started to glow faintly and warmed under my touch. The rubble around the bookcase shifted a bit, a little piece of charred paper fluttering up out of the cracks. Jace caught it and held it gingerly in his hands to keep it from crumbling into nothing.

"Well?" I asked, standing up and moving to look at the paper.

"I can't believe that worked…"

"You should be used to it by now." I kissed his cheek lightly before turning my attention back to the paper. It was very small, all the edges burned and charred. The ink was smudged slightly and most of the writing had been burnt away. "What does it say?" I leaned closer, trying to decipher what was left.

"Well, this top line says…" Jace squinted, "'Experiment', then it's burned, then the last letters I can make on that top line are 'twood.' The second line says… 'Sex: Male. Age: unborn.' Then it says on the next line 'Materials: 700 year old wa.' The next line says 'donor,' I think, and then the last bit I can make out is 'began dosing.'" Jace rubbed at his eyes after he finished. I couldn't blame him, the writing was painful to read.

"Well this has to be the proof we need then. 'Twood' has to be Lightwood, but the 'Ligh' got burnt away. 'Wa' has to be 'warlock' and it says it's about an unborn male. Alec is the only person this could be about."

Jace sighed and nodded, taking out another piece of paper from his jacket and using it to carefully wrap up the burnt scrap. He wrote a preservation rune on the outside and tucked it back in his pocket. "I'm glad we found this, it'll prove that Magnus is innocent but…" Jace shook his head.

"But what?" I coaxed.

"But it means Alec has been like this for his whole life and _no one_ ever noticed, not even me and I'm his parabati. It just…it feels wrong that we never figured it out even after you and I figured out what Valentine did to us." Jace whispered, staring off in the direction of the glass spires sparkling way off in the distance, illuminated in the sinking sun.

"But we know it now, when we need to know it. That's the important part." I softly squeezed his hand. He just nodded, still looking off into the distance. After a moment I bent down and wrote the rune to open another portal to take Jace and I back to the city.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~You fear that if you lower your guard for even one second your whole world will disintegrate into chaos~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I gently moved my finger back and forth, watching Alex try and grab for it, his little face screwed up in concentration.

"Your nephew is so cute." Ben said softly as he sat down next to me. He leaned his head on my shoulder and reached out to tickle Alex's belly. Alex giggled and swatted at his hand.

"Yeah…" I whispered, not looking at Ben.

"Allie, talk to me, please." Ben begged.

"What's there to talk about?" I mumbled.

"Allie, please. I just want to help." He pressed.

"There's nothing you can do, Ben."

"Allie,"

"WHAT, BEN? What? There's nothing you can help with, damnit. I'm a fucking warlock now, my fiancé's in jail for it and the Clave's trying to figure out weather or not they should kill the two of us for it! Tell me how in the world you can help with that, I'd love to hear it." I snapped at him without thinking. Everything, everything was wrong! Magnus shouldn't be in a jail cell, I shouldn't be a warlock, I shouldn't be a prisoner of the Clave, none of this, none of this should be happening.

The entire room was riveted on Ben and me now. Isabelle's mouth was hanging open in shock; she'd never heard me shout like that before…well, not when it wasn't directed at Jace. Everyone in the room looked taken aback, I was supposed to be the level headed one, the one in control and here I was yelling at one of the people I loved.

But Ben, dear Angel, I couldn't pull my eyes away from him. He looked like I had slapped him. His lips were parted just slightly, his breath hitching just a bit as his eyes brimmed with tears. He closed and opened his mouth a few times, then let out a small sob and darted from the room.

The next thing I knew I had an extremely angry Andy glaring inches within inches of my face, his fist tangled in my shirt.

"I swear, Alec, if you don't go fix this I will rip you apart right here." He growled. I just nodded weakly, already beating myself up for what I'd done.

Isabelle came over and took Alex who, despite all the shouting, continued to giggle happily, grabbing a fistful of his aunt's hair. As soon as he was out of my arms I raced out of the room, looking up and down the hall for Ben. I couldn't see him so I just turned left and started opening doors, hoping I would find where he'd hidden himself.

"Ben, please, Ben." I said over and over, I was near tears myself now. How could I have done that to Ben? How could I have hurt him like that?

Fifteen minutes and thirty-two doors later I found him in a lavish office, curled up on the couch.

"Go away!" He chucked a pillow at me. I let it hit me and watched it fall to the ground before softly shutting the door behind me and sliding to the floor, my back resting on the wall.

"Ben,"

"GO AWAY!" Another pillow was sent flying towards me. I took it without complaint as well. If it made him feel better to chuck things at me he was more then welcome to do it.

When I didn't respond he stomped over, picked one of the pillows up and hit me with it. He just stood there for a moment, tears still running down his face, and then did it again. And again. And again. I just sat there quietly, letting him do what he wanted, he deserved to.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" He demanded when I still didn't react.

"Because I hurt you." I whispered. For awhile Ben just stood there, looking down at me with the pillow still dangling in his hands.

"Did you mean it?" Ben asked.

"No, dear Angel, no. I'd never mean something like that about you Ben. I just…I'm just scared." I whispered, resting my head in my hands. Ben knelt down in front of me and tried to coax my head back up.

"Allie, I just want to help. I just want you to talk to me." He said softly when he managed to coax my head back up. His eyes and hair were a dark blue color now since he'd been crying. I watched as the color started to shift to purple as he calmed down. In his eyes the change started around the pupil, the purple spreading outwards swirling into the blue until it consumed it. In his hair the purple worked its way down from the roots, slipping over to cover the blue. Watching Ben's colors shift never ceased to fascinate and amaze me.

"I know, Ben. I just…just…" I couldn't find the words, but Ben knew what I was trying to say. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me tightly. I pulled him into my lap, holding onto him tightly as I tried not to cry.

"It's okay, Allie, it'll be okay. We'll figure it out." Ben soothed.

"I can't do this, Ben. I can't." I choked, tears finally rolling free.

Ben gently pulled my face to his, trapping it between his hands. "Yes. You. Can." He said firmly, a little frown on his face. "I know you can."

Before I could respond Ben leaned forward and kissed me lightly, my face still between his hands. "You want to know one of the biggest reasons I fell for you? It was your strength, how you could _always_ get through whatever was going on and figure out a way to make things work no matter how bad they got. I know this is hard, I know we have no idea what's going to happen, but I also know that you _will_ figure out a way to get through it." I'd never seen Ben look as determined and honest as he did when he said that.

I pulled his face back to mine, kissing him again. He sighed happily and tilted his head to deepen the kiss, pressing his lips more firmly against mine. Gently I ran my tongue along the seam of his lips, relishing the taste as he parted them and my tongue slid in against his.

We continued to kiss, Ben straddling my lap. Neither of us gave any thought to my fiancé or his husband. Right now we just needed each other. Wanted each other.

Ben shifted slightly so he was on his knees and still in my lap. He ground his hips roughly against mine, licking down my throat as I tossed my head back. For his generally reluctant nature, Ben was quite good at being dominating if he felt the inclination, so I just let him do what he wanted, reveling in the sensations.

I shrugged out of my shirt as his fingers tugged at the hem. He pulled it over my head and tossed it to the side, licking and kissing down my chest. I moaned softly when he pressed his tongue against one of my nipples, tweaking the other between his fingers.

"Ben," I moaned softly.

"Quite, someone might hear us." He mumbled as he kissed back up my chest, nibbling as he went. I just nodded in response as his fingers pulled at the button of my pants. He sat up just enough to give me room to shimmy them off along with my boxers. As soon as those had been tossed aside along with his clothes as well he started grinding into my lap again, pressing his hand over my mouth and his lips into my shoulder to stifle both of our moans.

I darted my tongue out, coating his fingers with saliva as they slid into my mouth. His moan reverberated against my skin when I ran my tongue around the digits, sucking lightly as well. After awhile he pulled his fingers away and slid them behind him and down to his hole. I watched as the expressions on his face shifted as he moved his fingers in and out. Lightly I dragged my fingers down his back, kissing along his collar bones.

When Ben was satisfied he pulled his fingers away and we both moved so he could sit down on me. I placed myself at his entrance and bit my lip to quite the loud moan threatening to rip its way out as Ben sat down on my completely. Ben was always tight, no matter what he or I did, and that tightness was exquisite. He bit into my shoulder, staying still until he'd adjusted. I ran my fingers through his hair, waiting for him to move.

When he did I had to bite down on my lip even harder to keep myself quite. Ben dug his fingers into my shoulders as he moved up and down, his head tossed back. I brushed my fingers along his length, watching as it caused his muscles to tense up.

"Allie," He whined slightly, "stop teasing." I let out a breathy chuckle and wrapped my hand around him tightly, delighting in the moan that escaped his lips without his consent. I pumped him hard as he continued to move up and down faster and harder. He fell forward, biting into my shoulder again to stifle his cries of pleasure. I moaned at the sensation of his teeth digging into my flesh just enough to hurt but not quite enough to break the skin as he rode me.

Ben knew exactly how to make me moan and cry out loudly and he did all of it, pressing his hand over my mouth to keep my quite, grinning in success every time he felt a sound vibrate out against the soft flesh of his palm. I tugged his hand away and pulled him into a kiss. Our tongues battled back and forth, moans and grunts echoing between us.

I felt him tensing and tightening around me as he got close. Stroking harder I thrust up into him, wrapping my free arm around his back to pull him closer. He pulled up one more time, his body tensed as he started to come, his head tossed back in bliss. The tightness enveloping me and the sight of him coming threw me over the edge as well and I arched up into him, biting my lip once more to stifle the loud moans as we both rode out our orgasms.

When we were finished Ben pulled out, collapsing against my chest as he tried to regain his ability to breathe. After a moment I pulled out and carried Ben to the couch, laying him down and falling beside him, tangling him in my arms.

"You know," He mumbled, "if you'd put up a silencing spell we could've been as loud as we wanted."

"Maybe you should've mentioned that before hand." I laughed as I lightly played with several strands of his glowing neon pink hair, watching as the glow started to fade from it as he came down from the high of sex. Once the glow had faded completely it was just a regular, though still bright, pink color.

"I was distracted." Ben responded.

"Perfect excuse." I grinned. He just rolled his eyes and shoved me playfully.

We laid there quietly for awhile, Ben's head on my chest and my arms wrapped around him. He lightly traced patterns on my chest with the tips of his fingers as I massaged his shoulder with mine.

"We're going to regret that…" Ben mumbled after a bit.

"Yeah…" I sighed softly, not willing to really think about it right now.


	9. Waiting

~*~*~*~*~*~* "Every man is afraid of something. That's how you know he's in love with you; when he is afraid of losing you." ~*~*~*~*~*~

"Alec, talk to me, please…just say something." I had no energy left anymore, not even to cry. I just gently ran my fingers along his face, saying his name over and over again. We were still in the field, though, and the spells had been completed almost twenty minutes ago. Alec should've been waking up by now…but he wasn't. He was breathing fine, and the color was back in his face. But he just wouldn't respond, and neither Johnny nor I had enough energy left to try and make him. We just had to wait. And hope.

"Guys…" Andy said softly, kneeling next to us. "Keep still…we're being watched."

Everyone tensed at his words, but didn't move. I pulled Alec closet to myself, tucking my jacket tighter around him.

"They came up on the ridge a few seconds ago, they're surrounding us from a hundred yards. There's at least twenty." Andy whispered, keeping his head low and his mouth in shadow.

"What do we want to do?" J.C. whispered.

Andy was silent for a moment, "We wait for them to come. We can't fight them with Magnus, Johnny and Alec in the condition they're in. Even if we could, my guess is that these guys are shadowhunters, we're on their turf after all, and they're the last people we want to be fighting. "

"Andy's right, we wait and surrender, it's our only option." Ian spoke up.

"But when they see that Alec's…" Johnny trailed off, his eyes settling on Alec. I pulled him tighter to my chest, burying my face in his hair. Was all this going to be for nothing? Would I still lose him?

"We'll figure it out, Magnus. I mean, Ian and I's parents rank really high in the Clave, our grandparents to, we'll figure something out." Marty said, crouching next to me. I just gave a small nod, not sure if I believed him.

"So…we all agree that surrender is our only option?" Andy asked, reluctantly everyone nodded. Taking a deep breath Andy stood up, the others following suit, their hands raised.

"We don't want to fight, we're just trying to help a hurt friend." Andy spoke clearly, looking off into the shadows.

After a moment a lone figure stepped forward, still partly in shadows, "Do you have any weapons?"

"Yeah." Andy moved slowly, tossing everything to the ground in front of him and indicating for the others to do the same.

"And your friend on the ground?" The figure asked.

"He has none." Andy told him.

For a moment the figure was silent, then it raised its hand causing over two dozen other figures to appear around us.

"A witness told us there was a battle here between two warlocks not long ago." The figure stated.

"Yes, he was one of them." Andy told them, pointing to Artemis's body a short distance away.

"And what of the other warlock?" Another figure questioned.

"He…He's the friend we came to help…" Andy said after a moment, moving his hand to indicate Alec.

I hated that Andy could so easily give away our secret, but I knew that he understood that if we weren't honest, it would only hurt us more.

"Are any of you shadowhunters?" The first figure asked. Ian and Marty both raided their hands. "and the rest of you?"

"I'm a werewolf, he's a vampire, and the other two are warlocks." Andy said, pointing to each in turn.

"We're going to have to bring all of you back with us for questioning." The figure said.

"We understand." Andy told them. "As we said, we don't want a fight.

The figure nodded and stepped into the light, revealing a young shadowhunter with a stocky build, thick beard, and in full gear.

"Johnson, get the body of the dead one." The stocky man ordered. "Someone else fetch the carts, these boys don't look quite capable of walking back.

Several shadowhunters murmured their response before fading back. Another moved forward and bent down, tossing Artemis's body over his shoulder.

Andy rested a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. I just pulled Alec closer, not responding. Things were going well so far, but they still didn't know who Alec was. Things could still turn against us.

"Your friend, the one that's hurt, what's his name?" The Clave official that had been grilling us for almost an hour asked. We'd all been brought into a good sized office, the walls paneled in oak the same shade as the sturdy desk behind which the official sat. I was sitting on the couch next to Alec who I'd lain on it and covered in a thick blanket. His breathing, his pulse…everything was fine. But he just wouldn't respond.

The other's had formed a loose circle around us and were doing their best to deflect questions away from Alec and I. But there was no way around it now. We couldn't lie about his name, it would only make things harder if…when we got caught in the lie.

"Alexander…" I said, hesitating in hope that would be enough.

"Last name?" The official prompted.

Taking in a deep breath I whispered his name into the dusty air, "Lightwood."

"…That's a shadowhunter name." He said after a moment.

"Yes, it is." Johnny spoke up.

"But you said he was a warlock?" The man questioned.

"We did…it's…complicated." Johnny choose his words carefully.

"We have time." The official's eyes narrowed slightly. I moved closer to Alec, trying to shield him from the man's glare.

"Alright." Johnny took a deep breath before starting in on the story.

He began with Alec being kidnapped, filling in the details the Clave didn't already know. Details about Artemis and his sick games, how this had all been his doing in the first place. The other's nodded as he went along, those who had been in the cavern adding their own details when needed. How Artemis had done everything he could to mess with them, sending shadows with no source to dance along the walls, demons hunting in the woods.

He went on to explain how as soon as everyone had finally been home safe, Artemis had gotten a hold of Ben. How Alec had gone after Artemis in a desperate attempt to save Ben, even though he knew it would get him killed. Johnny told them how we had found Alec, how he'd been dead when we did.

"Go on." The Clave official prompted when Johnny paused.

"There's one thing I need you to understand, we didn't turn Alec into a warlock, that shouldn't even be possible as far as I know. We just used the fact that he _already_ was one to save his life by making him immortal." Johnny said. He had yet to even mention Alec's magic, leaving it out as long as he could.

"What do you mean 'already was one?'" The official's brows furrowed, disbelief tingeing his expression.

"When we found Alec in the cavern, he could already do magic. Something happened in those caves that…changed him, or maybe awakened something in him. After we found Alec in the cavern, he was a warlock, but we don't know how. And trust me; we did try to figure it out." Johnny finished.

"The Clave official was quite for a few minutes before he rose and strode to the door, "Please remain here for a moment."

He shut the door with a soft thud behind him. From the hall we could hear faint murmurs, a heated conversation muted by the tick walls.

After an unbearably long wait, silent on our part, the Clave official who had been questioning us came back with several others.

"This is a very…strange and delicate situation." Our interrogator started, "For the time being we are going to detain all of you within the building, and the two warlocks in the prisons. Alexander will be taken to the infirmary and monitored carefully. His family will be contacted and advised to come to Idris. We would also like to have Ben brought here, and for you to give us a more specific location of that mansion in London so that we can question the vampire, Archer."

I froze when they said they were putting me in prison. Prison I didn't mind, but being separated from Alec…not being able to hold his hand, to watch him breathe, to feel his pulse flutter against my fingers, to…

"Magnus," Andy said softly, "We'll get through this." His hand rested gently on my shoulder.

"Will…will the others be able to stay with Alec?" I looked to the Clave officials; I didn't want Alec to wake up alone.

"I'm afraid not." One of them said.

"Please, just until his family gets here?" I begged.

"N-" The same official started.

"I don't see the problem with having just one of them stay with him until his family arrives, Morgan." Our interrogator interrupted. After a moment the other officials nodded their agreement, and I relaxed just slightly.

"Who will be staying with him then?" The interrogator asked.

"I will." Andy spoke up.

"Thank you." I whispered.

He nodded, "Yeah."

"Now then I need both of the warlocks to come with me." The largest of the officials spoke up.

I nodded, then leaned down to give Alec a soft kiss. His lips tasted of blood and sweat, but still had that taste that was undeniably Alec.

"I love you, Alec. I'll be back soon, I promise." I whispered to only him.

Taking a shaky breath I stood up and Johnny and I went with the large man to the cells.

"Magnus?" Johnny said softly. He was in the barren cell next to mine. Both cells had only mattresses on the floor and nothing more. I could feel the spells designed to keep us in the cells pressing tightly against my flesh. It felt almost as if I were underwater, the air thick with magic and dust.

"Yeah." I answered after a bit.

"We'll figure this out. We've got this far, we can get through the rest."

"And how do you propose we figure this out?" I said in a deadpan voice.

"Let's just think this through, okay? Maybe…maybe we can figure something out that we missed before."

"Well I've got nothing." I answered, still in a deadpan.

He sighed a bit, "Well, let's try anyways. You say Alec _never_ showed any sign of having this power?"

"No."

Johnny paused, "Okay…lets say you wanted to turn a shadowhunter into a Warlock, forgetting the fact that it's impossible, how would you do it?"

For awhile I was silent. "I don't know…"

"Just take a wild guess."

I ran my hands back through my hair, "I would try and find a way to start when they were still a child, when they were still…pliable for lack of a better word. Though how I'd start I have no idea."

"Alright, well, forgetting how you'd start, I agree with the child part. So let's just say that whatever it was that was done to Alec was done to him when he was a child."

"But if it was, how could I not have seen it before? I've healed him so many times, from so many injuries…"

Johnny chewed his lip for awhile, "A warlock is nothing without their magic…" He mused.

"And that's significant how?"

"Well, before he started dating you, he wasn't around warlocks much, was he?"

"No…I don't think so."

"Well, maybe being exposed to your magic for so long awakened the part of him that's a warlock, gave that part the magic it needed to awaken. Like, when we run out of magic and can share it with each other…"

I sat up, listening to closely. He sounded like he might be right, but there was still the problem of _how_ it had happened, and I said as much.

"I still can't figure that part out…" He admitted.

"That's enough chit chat you two!" The guard barked as he walked by. He stationed himself against the wall outside the cell and we had no choice but to stop our conversation.


	10. Chant

~*~*~*~*~ "In good times and bad times, I'll be on your side for ever more...that's what friends are for." ~*~*~*~*~

Jace stepped through the portal right behind me, and we were once again at the gates of Alicante. The guard waved us through and we walked quickly to the Hall, ducking through alleys to avoid the questioning stares of the many people who knew we were involved in the unknown buisness there. We slid unnoticed into the building, working our way to the room where we had last seen the others. Jace had firmly stated that before the Clave saw the information we had found, Alec would see it.

But when we stepped into the room he wasn't there. Baby Alex was being bounced happily on his Aunt's leg, and the other's were milling about aimlessly. Belatedly I noticed that the small guy…Ben? was missing as well.

"Where's Alec?" Jace asked just before I could ask the same.

"He and Ben had a fight, Ben ran out and Alec followed to make up with him. …They have been gone kind of long though." Isabelle mused, still bouncing a giggling Alex.

"Well we need him, now." Jace grumbled.

"Why?" One of the twin werewolves spoke up, though I still couldn't remember which was which of the two. He stepped forward, a curious but guarded look on his face. Of the twins, he was the more built one and looked healthier, and if I remembered right that was the one married to Ben.

"Because we found something that could put all this crap to rest." I spoke, "And we need to talk to Alec before we go to the Clave with it."

"You really found something?" The vampire looked up, he'd been quite the whole time. I'd never heard him talk at all. He seemed the most upset though, and if I remembered right, he was really close to the warlock…Johnny.

"Yeah, so where's Alec?" Jace repeated.

"All I know is that he followed Ben, but I don't know where he is either. We can all go look though." The larger of the twins spoke again.

"No, Clary and I can handle it. Just tell him to stay put if he comes back." Jace told him, already striding out the door, intent on handling things on his own as always. I followed quickly, tossing back an apologetic smile to the others for Jace's behavior.

"You go right, I'll go left." I told him. He nodded and took off down the hall, opening every door to check for Alec.

~*~*~*~*~ "Sickness shows us what we are" ~*~*~*~*~

I strode quickly down the hall, opening every door to look for Alec and not caring if I disturbed someone else. Finding Alec was more important then inconveniencing some low ranking Clave official. I had to get to him and show him what we'd found. I could tell how much he needed to be with Magnus right now, not just because he was his boyfriend, but because something about him just wasn't _right_.

I didn't know what it was, but I'd noticed ever since I'd arrived. His skin looked sallow, his eyes like they'd been punched. And when he moved it was slow, lethargic. Maybe it was just exhaustion, but I couldn't rid myself of the feeling that there was something else wrong. And Magnus was the best person to fix it.

But Alec couldn't see Magnus until this buisness with the Clave was dealt with. But to deal with it I first had to actually find him, which was proving rather difficult. I'd gone through quite a few doors when I finally found him…though I hadn't expected _how_ I would find him.

He was sprawled out on the couch, that Ben kid snuggled pretty much on top of him. At the sound of me coming in Alec leapt from the couch, a blush painting his face.

"Jace…I…" he stumbled.

"I don't want to know, and I honestly don't care right now." I waved him off.

"Did…did you find something?" He looked hopefully, desperately. Ben was wearing almost the same look on his face.

"Yeah." I gently pulled out the scrap of paper and showed it to him, but I didn't say what I thought it meant. I wanted to see if he came to the same conclusion.

"This…this says that Valentine experimented on me…" His eyes meant mine, while Ben's eyes went wide.

I grinned slightly, glad he'd come to the same conclusion, "Exactly. And this means that Magnus and that other guy can't be punished for any of this."

At this Alec pulled me into a tight hug, something I wasn't used to from him, "Thank you, Jace." He whispered.

"So…now we go talk to the Clave?" Ben asked.

"Now we go talk to the Clave." I confirmed, carefully re-wrapping the paper.

We reached the doors of the council room and Alec and I were escorted inside, Ben deciding to go and tell the others what was going on. I could feel how tense Alec was, standing beside me. His body was ridged, but at the same time he looked like he was about to collapse into a million pieces.

"It'll be okay. We'll make this work." I whispered to him. His only response was a barely noticeable nod.

"You say you have

* * *

evidence that will exonerate the two warlocks currently held in the prison cells?" The inquisitor, sitting at the head of the table, asked.

"We do. My wife Clary and I just recovered this from the ruins of Valentine's mansion." I carefully lay the scrap of paper on the table. The Clave officials each took a turn looking at it and gently examining it.

A tense few minutes passed once it reached the inquisitor, he turned it over in his hands gently, a masked look on his face.

"This is nothing but a scrap of burnt paper. I don't see why you believe it will help you." He scoffed, setting it down. "And even if it did, how do we know it isn't faked?"

Alec paled even more, gripping the edge of the table to keep from falling over. I wanted to reach out to him, support him somehow, but I was afraid of what the Clave might do if they saw how weak he truly was right now.

"We didn't fake anything," I began, but I was interrupted by a loud shout from outside the window. Before I could start again, the shout turned into a chant, still just outside the window.

"What is this?" The inquisitor said incredulously, striding to the window and throwing it open. Just beyond him I could see the ornate steps of the building…and they were crowded with people, with shadowhunter families. Each and every one of them chanting in rhythm.

"Free Magnus!"


	11. Collapse

~*~*~*~*~*~"Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds."~*~*~*~*~*~

"Free Magnus!"

"Free Magnus!"

"Free Magnus!"

It was chanted over and over again, but I couldn't tell by who. The inquisitor was blocking the view from the window and I wasn't sure I could actually walk over to one of the other windows without falling over. I was dizzy all of a sudden, and could barely keep my eyes open.

"Someone get those people to stop! They are interfering with an official Clave meeting. Tell them they'll be jailed if they don't desist!" The inquisitor shouted. But no one moved. "Go!"

Again, no one moved.

"Why aren't you listening to me?" The inquisitor seethed, striding back to the table. With him away from the window I could finally see who was standing there and when I did, I couldn't believe it. It was Jared, and Elizabeth, and Sarah, everyone from the caves backed by their families and friends. The children's families stood with the others, all chanting together. There were at least a hundred people standing on the steps of the building.

"Aren't those the people that were with you?" Jace whispered.

"Ye..yeah."

"Someone go take care of those idiots!" The inquisitor growled.

"No." One of the Clave officials spoke up. "You saw that scrap of paper, Inquisitor. From what we know of Valentine, is it really that hard to believe that it's real? And there's obviously quite a few people who don't believe Bane is at fault." She gestured at the crowd.

"We do not bow down to the will of people outside this room. This is Clave business—" He was cut off by the woman.

"And those are members of the Clave. I can see at least ten shadowhunter families that I recognize standing in that crowd, probably more. We've preached understanding, compassion and acceptance ever since the second war started by Valentine. If we try and go against the will of so many people, especially when it comes to a downworlder like Magnus Bane being imprisoned for something it looks like Valentine himself did, I can't see it going well."

The inquisitor was silent, staring at each of the Clave officials standing there, "How many of you agree?" He asked after a moment.

Slowly everyone but two people in the room raised their hands.

"Majority rules." Jace grinned, earning a dark glare from the inquisitor.

"As much as it…pains me, majority does rule. The two warlocks will be freed without charges." The Inquisitor grumbled.

I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding at that moment, my head bowing slightly. They were free. Magnus and Johnny were free.

"Come on; let's go get them out of those cells." Jace said, resting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing lightly. I looked up and saw him smiling softly and nodded, following him and several Clave officials out of the room.

By now the chanting had been stopped, and the group was being led inside.

"Alec!" Elizabeth stepped away from the group, waving off the Clave official that tried to stop her. She came over and wrapped me in a tight hug. I hugged back, grateful that they'd come and wanting to say so, but I was more interested in getting to Magnus.

"Kim managed to send us a message saying what's going on. Just tell us how we can help." She said.

"You already did, they've decided to free Magnus and Johnny." I told her, smiling gratefully.

"Good." She beamed, though the smile turned to a frown. "Alec? Are you okay? You just got really pale."

But I barely heard her. It felt like the floor was pitching underneath me, and my vision was fading in and out. For a moment I even had double vision. I closed my eyes tightly, hoping it would help with the dizziness. But it didn't, the floor continued to pitch underneath me and I felt myself stumble a bit.

"Alec?" Jace's hand was on my arm, steadying me a bit. But it wasn't enough and I collapsed against him. His arms wrapped around me to keep me from falling and he lowered me to the floor.

I could hear a crowd of voices speaking loudly around me, bombarding my head with noise. I tried to turn my head away from it but the movement resulted in a wave of nausea and dizziness.

"Alec? Alec, can you hear me?" Jace. I just nodded a bit, my eyes clenched shut as I tried to fight off the spinning sensations. "What's wrong?"

"Dizzy." I mumbled. For a moment he was silent, either that or I just didn't hear him, and then I felt his arm slide behind my back and one under my knees as he gently lifted me from the ground. I gasped a bit, the movement had sent another wave of vertigo crashing around me, and the swaying motion of Jace's walk wasn't helping.

He walked for what seemed like ages before he set me down on what felt like a bed. The last thing I heard before I passed out was Jace,

"Someone get Magnus, now."


	12. Rest

~*~*~*~*~*~"It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest."~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Magnus, pacing won't solve anything. Unless it helps you think or something. If that's the case, then by all means keep pacing." Johnny said from the next cell. He was laying on his mattress, staring at the ceiling.

"Something's wrong." I mumbled, pivoting again to re-walk the short cell.

"What do you mean?" Johnny frowned, sitting up to look at me.

"I don't know…I just…something's wrong. I can feel it." I bit my lip.

"What did I tell you about chit-chat you two?" The guard barked.

"How about you shut up?" I snapped without thinking.

"Why you indignant little—"

"That's enough Michael. Please let these two out of their cells. They're being released without charges." A woman told him, striding out of the darkness that consumed the prison. Behind her were three people. Another Clave official, Jace, and…Elizabeth? What was she doing here?

"Yes ma'am." The guard said after a moment. He came forward and unlocked Johnny's cell, then took his sweet time unlocking mine. I glared down at him the entire time, wishing I could punch him in the face. As soon as it was unlocked I shoved the door open and went to Jace.

"Alec?" I asked.

"He was awake, but he just collapsed and passed out a few minutes ago." Jace said, a tinge of worry obvious in his voice.

"What? Where is he?" I demanded. My head was flooded with images of Alec dead, of ideas that I'd done something wrong, something that would kill him. Jace just turned and walked, waving me to follow him. I did, ignoring everything and everyone else. As we walked Jace filled me in on what had happened. How Alec had woken up and gone to be with the others. How he and Clary had gone to Valentine's mansion and what they had found there. I was interested in what they found, but right now I just wanted to get to Alec.

Jace continued on to explain what had happened when he and Alec had gone to talk to the Clave officials. How the others from the Cave had been contacted by Kim and had come to help. How, when he and Alec had been on the way to the cells Alec had suddenly collapsed and soon passed out.

Just as Jace finished he opened the door to a small room with a single medical bed in the center with a chair next to it. Alec was tucked under the blanket, his face pale and his breathing shallow. Ben was next to the bed, holding Alec's hand. Isabelle was in one corner, watching her brother closely.

"Get out, both of you." I told them, not caring if my harsh tone made them mad. Ben nodded, giving Alec's hand a quick squeeze before leaving. Isabelle complied as well, giving her brother a gentle kiss on the forehead before leaving and shutting the door behind her.

I stepped up to the bed, sitting on the edge. Tenderly I brushed Alec's hair from his face before leaning down and giving him a soft kiss.

"Don't worry, Baby. I'm going to make you better." I promised him.

Four hours later and I collapsed into the chair next to the bed. I'd healed every little injury I could find on Alec, trying to fix everything in hope that it would help him somehow. As far as I could tell, he'd just collapsed from exhaustion, but that didn't stop me from healing everything else. I figured that if I could just take care of the injuries he did have, his body wouldn't have to waste so much energy trying to heal itself and he could get the rest he needed.

It was hard not to cry though, every time I felt the magic flowing through his body. I knew now that it was Valentine who'd done it to him in the first place, but I was the one who'd made him immortal. I was the one who took his life away from him. I was the one who made it so he was going to have to watch his family die and be able to do nothing about it. I was the one that had taken away his choice. I was,

"Magnus?" Alec said softly from the bed. I jolted up, not expecting him to have woken up yet. His eyes were only half open, but a small smile graced his features.

"Alec." I choked out; tears that I could no longer hold back welling in my eyes. I didn't touch him though, I was afraid he hated me now. Terrified, actually. And i wouldn't blame him if he did.

"Come here." He yanked lightly on my shirt. I moved forward slightly, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Magnus?"

"Yes?"

"Stop being an idiot. This isn't your fault, and I'm not mad at you."

"How…?" He cut me off, though not harshly.

"Because I love you." He answered simply, grabbing the front of my shirt and pulling me down for a kiss exactly like the first we'd ever had. This time his inexperience had been replaced by exhaustion, though it still resulted in the same fast and messy kiss. But I wouldn't have had it any other way.

"I love you to." I told him, resting my forehead on his and looking straight into his eyes.

"Good." He smiled.

I lay down beside him, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him as close as I could. He sighed contentedly and curled his body against mine, fitting us together perfectly. In a matter of moments we were both asleep, not caring what tomorrow would bring as long as we were together.

~*~END~*~


	13. Epilogue

I stretched languidly in the bed, snuggling into Andy and the soft comforter. It had been a rather pleasant night. Allie had finally been back to his old self and feeling completely better so we'd all gone out for drinks to celebrate. He and Magnus were so adorable, and I don't think they even realized it. It was easy to tell that Allie was different now than before with the way Magnus's eyes lit up when Allie held his hand or kissed him even though other people were around. Magnus obviously hadn't been used to Allie being affectionate in public. And the soft smile Allie only wore when he was looking at Magnus, or the lovingly exasperated one that usually came before it, they made it easy to tell that Allie and Magnus were meant for each other. And now, two months after we'd escaped from the cavern under the bay, Allie and Magnus were finally going to be married in another two weeks.

They'd decided that they were going to get married here, at my mansion, and then return to live with all of us after their honeymoon. Said honeymoon being a location only known to Magnus at this point. Poor Allie had been trying to get the location out of him for ages, but all Magnus would say is that it was a place they'd never been before.

"Good morning, Love." Andy whispered, kissing the side of my neck before yawning and stretching.

"Morning." I grinned. He leaned in for a kiss and I squirmed away, "EWWW! No, morning breath, ick."

He just rolled his eyes lovingly and kissed my cheek before tumbling out of bed. I giggled and followed him to the bathroom, turning on the shower while he grabbed towels and brushed his teeth. I stripped out of my clothes as Andy did the same, I felt myself shivering as his eyes traced my body. I'd missed that feeling.

"Gorgeous." Andy murmured. I blushed profusely, but my hair gave away the fact that I'd taken pleasure from the comment. He just chuckled and wrapped me in his arms, pulling me into the shower.

I sighed contentedly when the warm spray hit my body. I enjoyed hot showers so much more now that I'd had to go without them for two years.

"Last night was fun." Andy said as he spread some soap on his hands and rubbed it into my back. "Alec and Magnus are fun, for that matter. I like them quite a bit."

I grinned, "I'm glad. And yeah, they really are. Especially now that everything is really behind us."

He nodded, turning me into the spray again to rinse the soap off. "I've missed this. Being in the shower with you, watching the water run over you." He whispered in my ear as his hands caressed lower.

I nodded, leaning into him, "Yeah. Me to."

I bit my lip to stifle the moan when his hand cupped me just as he slid a finger inside. He grinned, watching the colors in my hair shift to ones of lust and want.

"Feel good?"

"Very." I whispered, leaning my head back to rest on his shoulder, my back pressed firmly against his chest.

"Want more?" He teased, just barely brushing his finger against my sweet spot before adding another.

I moaned at the movements before letting out a shaky, "Yes."

"Really? How much do you want more?" Andy just barely brushed the spot again, this time with both fingers.

"Andy," I whined, trying to grind down against the fingers.

"Tell me, Love." Andy grinned. I tried to respond only by sticking my tongue out at him, but he just leaned forward and captured it in his mouth, sucking lightly before giving it back. "Tell me, Love." He repeated.

The more he teased the harder I got, and, honestly, I loved every second of it. Even if it was torture. Just as I opened my mouth to say what I wanted he brushed that spot again and all that came out was a moan. This continued for several minutes until I managed to get out,

"I want you, Andy, bad, please." The words were tangled with moans, but he heard me anyways. I gasped as he removed his fingers and spun me around, pressing me against the wall of the shower. He stepped back as he coated himself with lube, his eyes racking down my body so intensely I could feel them moving over my skin.

When he was satisfied he stepped forward and grabbed my legs, lifting me and wrapping them around his body, my back still pressed firmly against the wall. His lips found mine as he lifted me a little more, one hand removed from my legs to help him slide inside. I groaned at the one feeling I never grew tired of; being completely filled by Andy. He lightly bit my shoulder, mumbling something about how I was always so tight and it felt so good.

"I'm not tight. You're just huge." I mumbled back, grinning a bit.

"And you're damn tight." He grinned back. "Now," He drawled, an evil glint in his eyes, "tell me what you want."

"Andy." I pouted, trying to move against him, but not having much leverage from my current position.

"Come on, Love, all you gotta do is tell me and I'll give you whatever you want." He grinned, his hand snaking between us to wrap around me. I groaned, my head falling forward into the crook of Andy's shoulder as I tried to move against his hand.

"I want," I moaned loud as he thrust just once.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it." I glared playfully at him.

"I want you to make me come so hard that I don't remember my name for a good five minutes afterwards."

He looked a little taken aback at this. Usually what he got out of me was something like 'I want you to move.' And that was it. But after a moment his grin returned and twisted up his face,

"As you wish." He captured my lips with his and rested his hands on my hips.

Andy started slow, but quickly picked up his pace, slamming into me and hitting that sweet spot nearly every time. I moaned loudly with each movement, my hands tangled in his hair. He was sucking hard on the junction of my neck, just above the collar bone.

I could feel myself nearing the edge, but I tried to hold on. It was so much better when it lasted, when you hung on until the very last second possible. But Andy could feel how close I was and reached between us to grab me again, his hand tightening and moving just right around me. I moaned even louder than before, but kept trying to hold on. His response to this was to pull almost completely out before slamming back in. A small, pleasure filled scream accompanied each of these huge thrusts until I felt Andy explode inside of me and I let myself follow soon after.

Andy kept going until we were both spent and we slid to the ground. I winced a little as he pulled out, it always felt so odd…so empty afterward. But it was still unbelievably good. We lay on the floor of the shower, tangled together under the spray, coming down from the high of our orgasms.

"Love you." Andy said after awhile.

"Love you to." I smiled, kissing him softly.

After awhile we stood back up and finished washing off before stepping out of the shower and getting dressed. We stepped back into our bedroom and I walked over to the piano, lightly running my fingers over the keys. I let a few notes flow around the room as Andy stretched out over the bed again.

"Play me something?" He asked.

I didn't respond, just started playing one of his favorite songs. I loved playing for him. Loved watching him watch me as I played. As soon as the last few notes faded away there was a knock on the bedroom door. Andy walked over and opened it to find Magnus standing there.

"Ben, I need a favor." He was grinning.

"Yes?" I answered, going to stand next to Andy, smiling as he tucked me under his arm.

"Well, you've already seen what I'm wearing to the wedding. Alec though, doesn't have anything to wear yet and I can't exactly take him shopping because that would spoil the surprise. And as amazing as Alec is, he has no fashion sense and I don't trust him to shop for himself. You on the other hand, have wonderful fashion sense. So I need you to take him shopping for something that goes with what I have and looks good on him. That way it doesn't spoil the surprise about what the other is wearing for either of us." Magnus finished, handing me a rather large fold of bills.

"I don't think even Armani costs this much." I said, examining the bills.

"Well, the extra is in case you find anything else that makes him look sexy." Magnus winked.

He and Andy both knew that Allie and I still cared about each other, that we'd slept together in Alicante. They'd been a little upset, but things had worked out. Although, we had been given a very strict warning that if we ever did it again we were in a shit load of trouble…unless we let Andy and Magnus watch. Then we'd be fine.

I chuckled, "Alright. I know you won't tell me where you're taking him on your honeymoon, but at least tell me what the weather'll be like so I know what to buy him?"

"Warm, not hot though." Magnus responded before winking again and disappearing down the hall.

"I take it you and Alec will be spending the day down in San Francisco then?" Andy grinned.

"Seems like it." I smiled, grabbing some comfy shoes and a backpack enchanted to hold as much as you wanted. It had been a present from Johnny after I had twisted my ankle from carrying to many shopping bags and not seeing the curb…

"Call or text me every hour or so, okay?" Andy said, snagging me in his arms. Before the over-protectiveness would've seemed silly, but now it was just comforting.

"Sure." I stood on my toes to kiss him. "Love you."

"Love you."

I gave him another quick kiss before going across the hall to Allie and Magnus's room. Magnus was nowhere in sight, but Allie was curled up reading next to the glass wall.

"Did Magnus tell you I get to take you shopping and you're not allowed to say no?" I grinned.

Allie chuckled, setting his book down after marking the page, "Yeah, he did. Not that I would object, since it's for the wedding."

"Well, let's get going then. Portal pretty please?" He nodded and murmured the spell for a portal. It glimmered to life on the glass wall and I took his hand, lightly tugging him through. We landed in an alleyway on the end of one of the shopping districts.

"Where to first?" Allie asked.

"Well, I say we hit these two little custom shops I know first for your actual outfit. Then we can get lunch somewhere, and then we'll worry about shoes and accessories."

"Let's go then." Allie said, sliding his sun glasses on. I nodded and pulled him out into the flow of foot traffic. We walked quickly in the warm sunshine before ducking into another alley way. This one, rather than being empty and trash filled, housed the entrance to several shops. Two of them did custom, handmade clothing that you couldn't find anywhere else.

"You know I was given permission to buy anything I thought would look good on you, right?" I grinned as I pushed open a door.

"Magnus is in trouble." He mumbled.

"Oh, I think he'll enjoy that." I winked as we walked through the racks. Allie couldn't hold back the little twist of his lips at the statement.

"So, what are we looking for exactly?" He asked, thumbing through the racks.

"Well, basically something with dark blues, silvers, golds, _maybe_ dark purples or greens. I think you'd look best in dark blues and silvers though." I answered, thumbing through the racks as well. "Something like this!" I grinned triumphantly. I'd found a long-sleeved dark blue formal shirt with the cuffs rolled up and sewn to sit right above the elbows. Over it was a dark blue vest, several shades lighter, with a silver trim and silver buttons. A very faint pattern could be seen in the cloth of the vest with the smallest trace of silver tracing the lines to make it pop out.

"Not exactly wedding-ish." He quirked an eyebrow. "I kinda like it though."

"Well, it's not like you and Magnus are having a typical wedding. Besides, it goes with what he's wearing." I told him.

"Fine by me then." Allie said.

"Good. Go try it on while I find you pants." I spun him around and pointed to the dressing room as I handed him the shirt.

"Yes, sir." He chuckled, walking towards the dressing room. I just grinned and went to look for some pants for him.

I found the perfect pair quickly. A pair of simple black formal pants, but the seams had been stitched in a pattern matching the one on the vest. I went into the dressing room and handed them to Allie, waiting impatiently for him to dress. After a few minutes he stepped out in the outfit and I whistled appreciatively.

"Damn, Allie. You look hot. Well, more hot." I grinned. "How's it fit?"

"Pretty good. The sleeves of the shirt are a little tight, and the pants are a tad short." He examined himself in the mirror. "I really like it though."

"Good. I'll go grab the guy that works here, he can make adjustments on the clothes." I told him. "Stay put."

I found Ephrem in the back and we exchanged greetings. He followed me into the dressing room and quickly took a few measurements before asking Allie to change back into his regular clothes.

"You guys can come pick up the outfit around three." Ephrem said, his voice still heavy with his Irish accent even after a couple of years.

"Thanks." I smiled, paying for the outfit. Allie said thanks as well and we stepped back out into the alley way.

"Now?" Allie asked.

"Now we go to the other custom shop and buy what looks hot." I grinned.

"Alright then." He chuckled as I pulled him down the alley a little farther to another door. This shop was smaller and a little more out there with its clothing. It had always been one of my favorite stores and I was very glad to see that it was still here.

"How much do you intend to buy me?" Allie asked, looking over the racks.

"As much as I can with the cash Magnus gave me. And trust me, he gave me quite a bit." I grinned.

"Uh oh." Allie chuckled. "Would it do me any good to make a run for it now?"

"Nope." I grinned, popping the p as I texted Andy that we were having fun.

I grabbed a few shirts, holding them up to see how they'd look on Allie. He took it with good grace, smiling and occasionally rolling his eyes playfully as I pranced around him with clothes.

"You know, you're allowed to pick stuff to." I giggled.

"I kinda figured. Not much has caught my eye though."

"Has anything caught your eye?" I asked.

"Well, one jacket." He answered, holding his arms out as I held another shirt in front of him.

"Then get it."

"There's really no point to a motorcycle jacket when I don't have a motorcycle." He responded.

I grinned deviously, "Then go buy a motorcycle to. You'd look damn sexy on one."

"You think I should?" A devious grin had slowly spread along his face as well.

"Yes. Magnus gave us more than enough."

"Guess I'll be getting that jacket then." He said after a moment of deliberation. I whooped, earning a slightly dirty look from the shop owner. Waving apologetically I gathered the clothes and chased Allie into the dressing room.

After another half hour he'd tried everything on and we'd paid. In the alley way we'd put all the bags in the backpack before deliberating on what to do for lunch. We settled on going to a sub shop and walked until we found one that wasn't to full.

"So, we've really got enough to buy a bike?" Allie asked as he bit into his sub.

"Yep. And a damn nice one to."

We discussed bikes for awhile longer over our subs. What kind of bikes were the best, different types of engines, different types of bodies. I only knew so much because Eric loved bikes and had three of his own at home, and sometimes more if he was restoring an old one he'd found. I wasn't sure how Allie knew so much though.

Once we'd finished we tossed our trash and pulled up a map of the area on my phone. We found a custom bike shop about fifteen miles from here and looked up their webpage to find a picture of their shop. Allie glamoured us when we'd reached another alley way and opened a portal that we took to the shop. He pulled the glamour off when he was sure no one was looking, and we walked inside.

There appeared to be only one man working, and he was half asleep at the counter. Six bikes were on display in the shop. Each up on a six inch pedestal. One was black with a shimmery red dragon painted down the side, another bright green, another all black with silver detailing, another the color change paint that went from blue to purple depending on how the light hit it, and the last was blue with black screaming skulls.

"Now I just have to choose." Allie chuckled, looking appreciatively at the bikes.

"Well, don't choose based on paintjob. Eric can re-paint it for you if you want." I told him. "He's amazing with stuff like that."

"Really?" I nodded. "Good to know."

Soon Allie settled on the black bike with silver detailing. We roused the worker and Allie took it on a test drive after conjuring a motorcycle license. I'd been right; Allie looked damn good on a bike.

When he returned we paid for the bike and arranged to come pick it up later in the day.

"What's Magnus gonna say about you buying a bike?" I grinned. We'd portaled back to the shops and had already found Allie a good pair of shoes for the wedding as well as several other pairs that would look good on him. Now we were just shopping for accessories.

"I haven't the faintest idea, actually." Allie laughed. "I think he knows I like bikes, but beyond that," He shrugged.

"Ah. Should be fun then." I smiled, holding up a silver tie in front of him. I was thinking it would look good if it were tucked into the vest so that only the top part of it showed. I bought him the tie as well as some jewelry before we left the store.

By now it was nearing three o'clock and we went to pick up Allie's wedding outfit. It fit perfectly now and we thanked Ephrem before portaling back to the bike shop to get Allie's bike. We took it out of the shop and rode it to a deserted area, me riding on the back seat, arms wrapped around Allie's waist.

He made sure no one was there before opening a special portal that would allow him to go through it with his motorcycle. I held onto him tightly as we spun through, landing safely at the beginning of the driveway to my mansion.

"You brought us this far from the house so you could show off the bike to Magnus, didn't you?" I grinned.

"That I did." He smiled, pulling out his phone and texting Magnus to come out to the porch. When Magnus responded that he had, Allie revved the engine and road up the driveway. He drove once in a loose circle in front of the porch, and Magnus, before coming to a stop and cutting the engine. Magnus was standing there with his mouth open and a rather obvious bulge in his pants.

I giggled as slid off of the bike, skipping up the steps until I was standing before Magnus, "You did say I could buy anything that would make him look sexy." I winked and disappeared inside just as Magnus strode down and captured Allie in a rough kiss. I'd have to warn everyone not to go out front for awhile…

* * *


End file.
